In the final Thieve's Guild quest, you're tasked with a seemingly dangerous escape in which the game recommends you equip the Boots of Springheel Jak (enchanted boots provided by the quest that add 50 to your acrobatics). Doing so will protect you from the fall due to a scripted event but the boots are destroyed in the process. However, should your actual acrobatics skill be high enough and/or you have sufficient health, the fall is easily survived without them and you can keep them permanently if you don't equip them before you jump.

As a reference to Julius Caesar, Emporer Uriel Septim spouts numerous quotes from the play itself in the final moments before his death.

Certain shops in the Imperial City are named after restaurants in Maryland, home of Bethesda Softworks. Amongst such are The Main Ingredient and Three Brothers.

There is a small bridge just past the Mouth of the Panther, east-southeast of Bravil. Underneath you will find the remains of a Dead Troll. Reminiscent of the children's fairy tale "Billy Goats Gruff", you will find A Poorly Scrawled Note on the body, explaining its failure as a bridge troll:

Mee wurst troll evurr
nobuddy pay brijj tole
me nott sceary enuf
mee gett drunc an kil sellf
troll droun

The statue in Chorrol in front of the south gate is a rendition of the Pietà, one of Michelangelo's finest works.

In Oblivion, you can find a journal called "Macabre Manifest" which belonged to a grave robber. It includes:

Oford Gabings - Anvil

Travel Cloak with Silver and Green Leaf Fastener
Enchanted Shortsword with Inlaid Writing
Gold Ring with Inscription (Cursed?)
Leather Bound Travel Journal

This person is obviously a reference to Frodo Baggins (Oford Gabings is an anagram for Frodo Baggins, which further cements this reference) from Lord of the Rings. Upon completing the quest you receive a ring which looks very similar to the "Ring of Power".

Oblivion's main theme is used in a North Korean propaganda video.

A PSP version was planned for release around April 2007. According to Official PlayStation Magazine, it lacked the free-roaming game-play the games usually had, and felt more like a "dungeon romp."

In the Spanish translation, the translation team mistook the verb "to train" (to work to improve skills) with the noun "train" (the means of transport), leading to the sentence "No hablar. No hablar. Solo tren." with "train" being the means of transport instead of the verb "entrenar".

The NPC 'Jakben, Earl of Imbel' found in the Imperial City is actually an anagram of "Jack be nimble", from an old mid-19th century English nursery rhyme about a boy named Jack who would jump over candle sticks. He also owns a pair of unique boots important to the Thieves Guild questline which boosts the wearer's acrobatics skill by 50 points, allowing them to jump much higher than before. The name of the item, the "Boots of Springheel Jak", is itself a reference to a character from English folklore.

The 2005 E3 demo video showcased a new system called "Radiant AI", which gave them general goals to achieve, how the goals were to be achieved was totally up on the NPC and the environment they were in.

This, however, presented problems when it was first implemented, as there were no "rules" for the NPCs to follow, only goals. This would cause many problems for the player including quest-lines being broken. Some examples are an unseen NPC going around town, buying up all the armor from the town stores, and another was an NPC important for the Dark Brotherhood questline would end up being found dead, as he was also a Skooma dealer and was killed by other NPCs needing the Skooma. As a result, many of the behaviors of the RAI had to be toned down significantly in the final release.

The posters for The Arena in the Imperial City are a reference to the first Elder Scrolls Game.

The quest, "A Shadow Over Hackdirt" appears to be a reference to the H.P. Lovecraft story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". The Lovecraft story tells of an investigator who travels to the town of Innsmouth, only to find it in shambles with few residents. The town is controlled by a cult of undersea creatures known as The Deep Ones. In Oblivion, the player travels to the dilapidated town of Hackdirt in search of a lost citizen of Chorrol, and finds a town in shambles with few residents. The main character soon learns the town is controlled by a cult underground known as The Brethren, with a book existing in the town entitled "The Bible of the Deep Ones". In addition, the Brethren feature large eyes unlike typical NPCs within the game. This may be in reference to Lovecraft's depiction of the residents of the town, "bulgy starey eyes".

Amantius Allectus' Diary, stolen during "May The Best Thief Win" may be a reference to the movie and musical "Little Shop of Horrors". The diary notes Allectus' cultivation of plants that feed on blood. He begins by feeding them cat and rat blood, but once he accidentally cuts himself on the plant, they begin craving human blood, which he then feeds them. In "Little Shop", the main character Seymour cares for a blood-thirsty plant who, once accidentally cutting himself on it, begins to feed it his own blood.

A city named "Sutch" was cut from the final game. The only remnants are the existence of a "Fort Sutch" in the final game. Sutch is mentioned in lore throughout the series, and the E3 2005 demo of Oblivion featured Sutch on the world map.

The quest, "The Forlorn Watchman" features many references to the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty", which was based on the real-life event based on the ship of the same name. In the quest, the player must release a man's soul by releasing his body from shackles within a ship. Aboard the ship, the player discovers the mutiny upon the ship, led by a man named Gable the Traitor against their captain, Captain Laughton. In the 1935 movie, the captain is played by Charles Laughton and the "traitor" is played by Clark Gable.

There exists an icon for the Dark Brotherhood rank of "Executioner", but the game forgoes it, promoting the player from "Assassin" to "Silencer".

Icons exist for the Mythic Dawn Armor, but it cannot be worn as the items are classified as "bound items" and not equippable gear.

Icons exist for the Imperial Watch Armor, although there is no way to obtain it in-game (apart from the shield).

City-Swimmer incorrectly addresses herself as a "he" when referring to herself.