Clay Davis's radio show interviewer is played by former politician Larry Young, on whom his character is loosely based.
The song playing in the bar scene where Mcnulty is talking to the two reporters is "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.
Joe Hansard, who plays transient "Nathan Levi Boston" in the fifth episode of the fifth season of The Wire (2002) entitled "React Quotes," also portrayed gearhead "Jimmy Lee Shields" on the first episode of the first season of David Simon's sister show Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). Both episodes of both shows aired after The Superbowl.