Amongst many cultural and historical jokes interwoven in the plot, one occurs when Dr. Alexander Monro (Tim Curry) says to Dr. Lister (George Potts), "your breath is appalling." Although the timeline is somewhat off, with Lister being of a later generation than that portrayed during the events of this movie, he was nonetheless the pioneer of using carbolic acid for the sterilization of surgical instruments and cleaning of wounds during the 1860s. This effectively revolutionized surgery and saved the lives of countless patients who would otherwise have died of infection or had to have limbs amputated due to gangrene. He is also after whom the famous antiseptic mouthwash product Listerine was named, hence the ironic joke about his breath being appalling.
The dog seen in the first graveyard scene with Burke (Simon Pegg), Hare (Andy Serkis), and the militia is a reference to a famous Edinburgh, Scotland, story. Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye terrier, who in 19th-century Edinburgh spent 14 years returning to and guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray. The movie accurately shows him as being a Skye terrier and also shows his master's name on the grave he guards, John Gray. He happened to be played by Pegg's own (female) dog, Minnie.
The legendary Burke and Hare murders are also known as the West Port murders. The total number of deaths amounted to 17.
The closing shot and sequence is a forward steadicam shot of the real-life Edinburgh University Medical Museum culminating in a close shot of the real skeleton of William Burke.
An obscure joke occurs early in the movie, when Burke and Hare are unmasked as a pair of confidence men, since their "Irish moss" is revealed to be cheese mold, a foolish substitute since they could've used Scottish moss. But the real point is that such molds really can cure some infections as was claimed, and if Burke and Hare hadn't turned to grave robbing, then they just might be hailed as the 19th-century discoverers of penicillin.
Robert Paynter: The Cinematographer, and frequent John Landis collaborator as a "Distinguished Doctor". Paynter died shortly before the release of this movie.