In Joan's Chelsea apartment there is an artwork above her bed. This is a silkscreen done by Lucy Liu herself.
The character Detective Bell is a brilliant policeman with deductive powers of his own. This is a nod to Dr. Joseph Bell, a Scottish physician and professor, acquaintance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the real-life model for Sherlock Holmes.
Throughout the show, Sherlock is shown to keep and study bees as a hobby. In the original short story "His Last Bow", Sherlock Holmes has retired to the Sussex Downs to keep bees.
Creator Robert Doherty said that one of his motivations for a female Dr. Watson was to show that men and women can "work and live together and not end up romantically entangled."
Joan's mother's name is Mary Watson. This is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in which Dr. Watson's wife's name is Mary.