The medal Captain Sisko is awarded is named after Christopher Pike, an earlier captain of the USS Enterprise. This was Gene Roddenberry's original choice for the name of the captain in the original Star Trek (1966) pilot The Cage (1966)--the character also appeared in the two-part episode The Menagerie: Part I (1966) and The Menagerie: Part II (1966). This is the first reference to Pike since the original series. He would reappear in Star Trek (2009) and the second season of Star Trek: Discovery (2017) before becoming the lead character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022), a series based on the original Star Trek pilot.
Bashir and Quark's reaction to the news that Dax and Worf are going to try for a baby recalls their conversation in Change of Heart (1998), where they both realize that they are still in love with her.
Just as it had in the fifth season finale, Call to Arms (1997), and just as it would in the seventh season finale, What You Leave Behind (1999), Sisko's baseball carries great thematic significance at the end of this episode.
This episode confirms what is alluded to in The Reckoning (1998); that the Dominion have not attempted to bring any reinforcements into the Alpha Quadrant since their fleet was destroyed by the Prophets in Sacrifice of Angels (1997).