The test for the cadets is similar to the Box from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) as well the training flashbacks in Jedi: Fallen Order (2019). It can therefore be presumed that training facilities changed very little in the time between the Clone Wars era Republic and the Rebellion era Empire.
The subplot involving a giant Kyber crystal is reused from the unfinished "Crystal Crisis on Utapau" story arc from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) which was never broadcast but released in unfinished form on the Internet.
Imperial Cadet Zare Leonis's story is expanded in a book series by author Jason Fry called 'Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire". The second of this four book series, "Rebel in the Ranks" adapts the events from "Breaking Ranks", with the first book being a prequel to the episode.
This is the second and only other time since the original A New Hope(1977) that the word "robot" is used.
In this episode, trainee Storm Troopers practice marksmanship.