This was Efrem Zimbalist Jr.'s final television appearance before his death on May 2, 2014 at the age of 95.
During the fight in the Batcave, Batman uses a set of sonic batarangs to sic a swarm of bats onto the Thanagarians; on the commentary, Dwayne McDuffie admits that he "happily stole" this trick from the comics story "Batman: Year One," which was likewise copied in the live-action film Batman Begins (2005).
According to Bruce Timm, Kragger's character is a homage to Martin Landau in North by Northwest (1959), being that both are the right-hand men of their superiors, who probably are a little bit more than that - at least in their own minds. For Kragger's case, there's a bit of symbolism regarding that in this episode when J'onn enters his mind, seeing two giant statues of Kragger and Hro Talak standing proudly together as a demolished statue of Hawkgirl lies at their feet.
According to the producers' commentary, Victor Rivers, who voices Hro Talak, was uncomfortable doing the scenes where Talak is battling Hawkgirl. Rivers is a leading crusader against domestic violence.
Scarface, the Ventriloquist's dummy, is the puppet shown in the Batcave.