The Israeli children's song that Abby and McGee sing, "Chad Gadya," is real, originally in Aramaic and is sung at the end of Passover seders. The story is literally of a goat that was eaten by a cat which was bitten by a dog which was hit by a stick which was burned by fire which was extinguished by water which was drunk by an ox which was slaughtered by a Shohet (slaughterer) who was killed by the Angel of Death who was was killed by God.
Most of Abbey's tattoos are Pauley Perrette's real tattoos. Only the spider web on her neck and the cross on her back are fake. The cross tattoo is only seen in the first 6 seasons. Later on, Perrette gets a flower tattoo on her back. This is first seen on Abbey on this episode.
One of the candidates to replace Ziva who was supposed to be Israeli (as liaison agent between Mossad and NCIS) is DEA Agent Claire Connell, played by Noa Tishby, who is Israeli. In contrast, Cote de Pablo, who plays Ziva, is actually Chilean.
'Truth or Consequences' is the name of a city in New Mexico. It was named after a TV game show The All New Truth or Consequences (1950).
Gibbs tells DiNozzo "No casting couch". This refers to the long-standing and offensive tradition in show business of 'auditioning' actresses by forcing them to engage in sex with the casting director or other person with the power to offer or deny them a role. The usual example supposed the couch in the office of the person in power was the site for this encounter. Hence, 'casting couch' refers to the coercion of sexual favours in return for employment. This occurred in all types of productions, not just X-rated films.