The title comes from William Blake's famous 1794 poem The Tyger, which begins,
"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night"
This episode is one example of Doctor Who as a television show being referenced in the show itself, with a bus in one shot advertising season eight. A prior example of this featured in Remembrance of the Daleks: Part Two (1988), which was set on the same day that Doctor Who (1963) premiered, with a television in the background saying "And now for a new science fiction adventure, Doc-" before cutting out. The "bus" seen is actually a cardboard cutout, due to difficulties that would be faced in order to manoeuvre a real bus into a place of dense foliage.
Originally, the Doctor believed that the strange events were specifically targeted at him, but Steven Moffat discouraged this approach.
There are three Union (Jack) flags flying in the forest. The one seen in most scenes is actually upside down, however this may be deliberate as an upside-down flag is a distress signal.
The red phone box seen in the forest is a typical British one, of the second type. It has rectangular glass panes.