The plot of this episode, while likely making direct reference in its title to the 1958 Tony Curtis / Sydney Poitier film The Defiant Ones, in which two criminals chained together flee the law, draws more directly from John Boorman's 1968 Hell in the Pacific, in which an American officer (Lee Marvin) and a Japanese officer become stranded on a Pacific island during World War II. The two must come to some understanding in order to live. This film was remade in the 1980s as Enemy Mine, about a human and an alien stranded together who must rely on each other to survive. The trope is a good one and still works well in the context of Star Wars Rebels.
Agent Kallus mentions that Saw Gerrera (last seen in the Clone Wars episode Tipping Points (2012)) was still an important rebel leader on Onderon when he visited the planet on his first Imperial mission.
According to the episode guide on Starwars.com, the Bonzami creatures are named after a Zamboni ice-clearing machine used at hockey games and ice rinks. This is because the Bonzami's horn and beak are inspired by the front of a truck-mounted snowplow.
First mention of the mysterious disappearance of the entire Geonosian population. In the Marvel comic 'Darth Vader' #4, published April 2015, which takes place shortly after Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Vader travels deep into the planet's underground and finds just one Geonosian Queen left. According to Henry Gilroy and Pablo Hidalgo, this will be explored further later on in the series.
The Imperial Construction Spheres are inspired by early Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Specifically, a painting of of multiple Death Stars being built over Endor. The same shape was used earlier as the Imperial Complex on Lothal's capital city.