According to the artist behind the character Darth Nihilus, Brian Menze, the design was heavily based on the character "No Face" from the Hayao Miyazaki film "Spirited Away."

"It was requested that I create a sith lord based on the 'no-face' character from the Miyazaki film Spirited Away and that's what I came up with. Still, he's arguably the most recognized character I've worked on, other than the Vault Boy from Fallout."

The music played in the Entertainment Module 081 Cantina on Citadel Station on the planet Telos IV is the tune heard being played in the 7-Gee Lounge in the Mos Espa Arena level in the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace video game, however, this version is much shorter than the original.

Several achievements for the Steam version are references to various films.

•"The First Rule..." and "The Second Rule...", are both references to the movie Fight Club.
•"Your Eyes Can Deceive You" is a reference to the line "Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them.", said by Obi-Wan in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"Laugh It Up, Fuzzball" is a direct quote of a line said by Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
•"An Elegant Weapon" is a reference to the line "Not as random or as clumsy as a blaster; An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.", said by Obi-Wan in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"A Larger World" is a reference to the line "That's Good! You've taken your first step into a larger world.", said by Obi-Wan in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"Starting Down the Dark Path" and "Destiny, Dominated" are both references to the line "If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.", said by Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
•"Walking Carpet" is a reference to the line "Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?", said by Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"A Certain Set of Skills" is a reference to the infamous telephone conversation from the film Taken.
•"Never Tell Me the Odds" is a direct quote of a line said by Han Solo in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"Don't Get Cocky" is a reference to the line "Great kid! Don't get cocky!", said by Han Solo in Star Wars: A New Hope.
•"Luminous Beings" is a reference to the line "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.", said by Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
•"If You Only Knew" is a reference to the line "If you only knew the power of the Dark Side.", said by Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Due to LucasArts rushing the game's development to release it on time for the holidays, a large number of content and story was either cut or unfinished with numerous bugs remaining in the game. M4-78, a planet inhabited by droids, was one of the worlds originally intended to be visitable by the player where they'd find one of the Jedi Masters and her apprentice.