At the airport, where Max is awaiting title character, an announcement is made more than once for Mr. Buck Henry, whose poodle is awaiting pickup at the counter. Buck Henry is co-creator of Get Smart along with Mel Brooks.
The opening credits for this episode roll exactly 86 seconds after the episode starts, the same as Smart's codename.
The villain in this episode was The Claw. In the early 80s, Don Adams was the voice of Inspector Gadget in the cartoon series of the same name. The villain in that was Dr. Claw.
The Claw hilariously referred himself as The Craw.
Ten years earlier, Edward Platt and Leonard Strong appeared together in the 1955 horror film Cult of the Cobra as members of the titular cult.