At one point, Dr. Beckett says, "I'm a bloody medical doctor, not a magician." This is a clear nod to a running gag made famous by the character of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek (1966) and multiple subsequent movies, where he would frequently say, "I'm a doctor not a (blank)."
The plot of this episode is similar to Die Hard (1988) in which Robert Davi, who plays Commander Kolya, also appeared.