The story in this episode involves the "Inter-Island Transport Carrier" which is a car and people ferry designed to run between the islands of Hawaii. There actually was such a company, called the "Hawaii Superferry" which was in business briefly from December 2007 to March 2009, until it was shut down by the courts. The Chairman of the Board of the Hawaii Superferry company was John F. Lehman Jr. former Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. The renderings which were used on the show were almost identical to what the actual Superferries looked like, except for the colors. On the show, they are red, but in real life, the two Superferries were blue.
When Steve tells Max that time traveling does not exist, Max disagrees. This is a play on his character from Heroes in which his character could time travel.
The murder victim in this episode is a co-owner of a ship and luxury yacht-building business, and his partner is named Tony Denison. Denison is the name of one of the world's largest luxury yacht brokerage companies, Denison Yacht Sales, with offices in Florida, California, Mexico, and Connecticut.
Title of this episode means "Defender".