The episode title and other elements of the story are based on the robot stories of the late Isaac Asimov. The episode title, "First Law", refers to Azimov's First Law of Robotics - "No robot may harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." The AI program is named Bailey and Daniel Robertson's password used in the opening scene is Daniel R. Olivaw. Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw are the main characters in the Asimov novels The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. The 'R' in Olivaw's name stands for 'robot'.
Dr Robinson's lab is visually akin to the computer room for Virtual Future (1995), which deals more with virtual reality than A. I., but similar properties.
In Isaac Asimov's robot stories, U.S. Robotics was founded by Lawrence Robertson.
The name of the company developing the AI, "Steel Cave," is a reference to one of the Asimov Robot Novels, "Caves of Steel".
Guest stars Barrett Foa (the hacker, Andrew Gibbons) and Brian Avers (the victim, Dr. Daniel Robertson) both went on to be in NCIS: Los Angeles (2009), Foa as technical operator Eric Beale and Avers as Special Agent Mike Renko.