At $270 million, Grand Theft Auto V had the largest budget of any game in history. Comparing that to Hollywood blockbusters, it is second only to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which had a budget of $300 million.

There are billboards around the game that say "Rehab Island". The logo bears resemblance to the logo from the game Dead Island.

On GTA's Facebook parody, Life Invader, you can see that Michael has a man named Nicholas Bell in his friends list. This is a reference to GTA IV's main protagonist, Niko Bellic. Roman is also on his friends list.

In the Discount Clothing Store in Grapeseed, you can find a diamond print white and black jacket with a yellow crab on the back. This is a reference to Ryan Gosling's Jacket in the movie 'Drive', where he had an almost identical diamond print white and black jacket but with a yellow scorpion on the back.

In the Suburban store that you visit in the mission 'Friend Request', one of the shirt stalls allows you to buy a parrot tropical shirt, similar to the one worn by Max Payne in Max Payne 3. Also, if you give Michael just a light scruffy beard while he's wearing his grey suit, he looks oddly similar to Max Payne at the beginning of Max Payne 3.

The mission "Grass roots - Trevor" is thought to be a reference to a scene in the movie "PeeWee's Big Adventure". Both scenes are hallucinations, contain clowns, and both have the same background music.

In its first 24-hours, Grand Theft Auto V made over $800 million. This surpassed the previous record of $500 million set by Call of Duty: Black Ops II in 2012.

There is an underwater UFO that can be accessed by mini-sub. The UFO is found in the north of the world map.

The world is bigger than the total size of the worlds from Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas combined.

In the Special and Collectors Edition of the game there is a double sided blueprint map. When looked at in UV lighting it reveals secrets and surprises.

In the mission Predator, Michael must use a sniper rifle fitted with a thermal scope to find the O'Neil Brothers in the woods at night. If the player zooms in on the thermal heat dot on the bottom right, it appears to be a Bigfoot standing still. Shooting it does nothing and it abruptly disappears after a few seconds.

Later in the game, Spoiler:an entire mission is dedcated to Bigfoot. "The Last One" has Franklin meet a hunter who has been on Sasquatch's trail for 9 years, the same number of years since San Andreas was released. Franklin, however, concludes that Bigfoot is just a man in a suit.

During the prologue in which the player has to escape from the police after robbing a bank, by veering off the road and onto the frozen stream, it's possible to look under the bridge and find an alien frozen under the ice.

Between 23:00 and 0:00 in the eastern peak of Mount Gordo, the ghost of Jolene Cranley-Evans
will be present. She will not take damage or move, and the name of her estranged husband, Jock, is written in blood on the rock where she stands. Jolene fades away if the player gets too close.

In the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness is a scene in which a drug deal has gone bad. Down a slope is a briefcase and a man telling the player to stay away from the case. Grabbing the case (which grants $25,000), he still state "you are a dead man." This is a reference to the movie "No Country for Old Men," as one of the protagonists stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad and a case which contains $2,000,000. When the protagonist finds and takes the money, he discovers that a hitman (as well as the police and cartel) are out to recover the money.

Early in the game, Lester refers to an Eastern-European man living in Liberty City who went quiet. The man in question is Niko from Grand Theft Auto IV. This could mean that he is either dead, or gave up crime.

Early on in the game, Franklin can be seen walking past a building daubed with gangland graffiti that pays homage to Grove Street and the Grove Street Family. Three gangsters dressed in green, the color of the gang, stand by while an image of a skull wearing a green rag over its mouth adorns the wall with the message "Welcome back. We missed you last time.", welcoming players back to the city of San Andreas from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

North West of Fort Zancudo is a UFO in the sky that can only be accessed by helicopter. It is motionless and doesn't move. Approaching the UFO will make a loud screeching noise, and all power will be cut from your vehicle.

Lester's house contains a number of action figures, including parodies of Master Chief from Halo, and Superman. These are Impotent Rage, a superhero from an in-game cartoon series, and a Republican Space Ranger from another in-game cartoon series.

When switching to Trevor, there is a random chance that Trevor will be driving down the highway on a scooter chasing somebody else on a scooter, while yelling "We are scooter brothers!" This is a reference to a popular Grand Theft Auto IV video with the same premise. Trevor will even continue to quote the video if he continues to drive near him.

In the short film, "Capolavoro", that can be seen in some of the movie theaters, you can see the "Heart of Liberty" easter egg from Grand Theft Auto IV, in addition to some random clips from GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption.