Franklin and Bash compare their relationship with Karp to that of John McClane and Hans Gruber from the film Die Hard. Fitzgerald, the behind the scenes bad guy they confront later, is played by actor Hart Bochner who was Ellis in the 1988 film. Bochner as Ellis appears on Pindar's conspiracy bulletin board, in a still frame from Die Hard (38:30).
Contrary to the effusive compliments Stanton and Pindar heap upon the kopi luwak coffee, many coffee experts consider the praise for it to be nothing but undeserved hype due mainly to the unusual way it's produced. Many animal rights advocates also protest the way the coffee is produced. Since the beans must be first consumed by civets (the stomach acids of the animals supposedly neutralize the natural bitterness of the raw bean and therefore produce a smoother beverage), producers will often feed the beans to captured civets in a factory farm system. To meet the worldwide demand civets are often caged and then force-fed the beans, much like the way geese are force-fed to produce foie gras.