Perry Smith, whom Gideon quotes at the beginning, was one of the convicted murderers who served as the inspiration for Truman Capote's novel "In Cold Blood."
The original air date for "The Big Game" was February 4th, the same day as the Super Bowl. The beginning features the aftermath of a Super Bowl party.
This episode was a special broadcast chosen to air after CBS's coverage of Super Bowl XLI. It attracted 26.2 million viewers (according to Nielsen preliminary numbers), which is the highest amount of viewers for a Criminal Minds episode in the show's history. Appropriately, the episode is titled "The Big Game."
The cast reunites Dawson's Creek (1998) alums James Van Der Beek and Meredith Monroe although they do not have any scenes together.