The episode title is a pun on the concept of Guerrilla Warfare: Optimus Primal transforms into a gorilla and wages war on the Predacons. Also, guerrilla warfare is built on surprise attacks, sabotage, ambushes, and deception; which is the opposite of the roaring rampage Optimus embarks on.
In Scorponok's lab, some symbols can be seen on the screen. According to story-editor Bob Forward they are upside-down text in Cybertronix (the Transformer language used in the "Beast Wars" saga), which spell out "you've got problems." This alludes to the virus being imperfect.
When going off to fight the Predacons, Optimus Primal slips on a faceplate, making him resemble his ancestor Optimus Prime.
In Japan, this episode was called "Satsujin Virus," or "Murderous Virus."
The episode contains references to comic heroes: Optimus's personality change into an aggressive fighter alludes to the Incredible Hulk; Dinobot calls Optimus "a war machine," a possible reference to the superhero War Machine; and Optimus Primal's attack on Waspinator pays homage to the Frank Miller comic "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns."