Ward brings Werner Von Strucker tacos upon earning them. Just like John Garrett did to him during his training.
Randolph refers to Bobbi as "Amazon woman". Adrianne Palicki, who plays Bobbi had previously played the Amazon warrior Wonder Woman in the pilot for a Wonder Woman (2011) TV series which was never aired.
The American flag on the wall in the squad's recreational area is an old American flag having only 48 stars on it instead of the modern 50 stars.
The stunt team, lead by second unit director Garry A. Brown and stunt coordinator Tanner Gill, along with Tancharoen, had only around a day to plan Ward's entrance in the episode, involving him driving through a warehouse between pillars while giving a "dissertation" on the future of Hydra. Brown had seen the location during the production of the second season, and had asked that it be used given that building was up for demolition. It was subsequently written into the script for "Purpose in the Machine". The pillars were only about 18 feet apart, and unlike on a film the stunt driver Greg Tracy did not have much time to practice the sequence and work out the best way to do it.
James Hong (who guests as Melinda May's father) and Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May) both starred in Disney's Mulan (1998); Wen, as the titular heroine, and Hong as Chi-Fu, envoy to the emperor.