Tropes in this episode include:
- Actor Allusion: William Sanderson's character is a guy who is heavily involved in robotics, having built some of the most advanced models and also created a bunch of small toy-like robots to keep him company at home. He's also an Ink-Suit Actor.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: H.A.R.D.A.C. pursues its goal with a computer's single-mindedness, not letting such considerations as whether said goal is a good idea or not stop it.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Censor Steam: Some very well placed steam hides the Gordon robot's nether regions as it comes out of H.A.R.D.A.C.'s press.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Randa Duane's design is based on Marilyn Monroe.
- Cyber Cyclops: H.A.R.D.A.C. has a single glowing red eye high up on its giant mainframe, reminiscent of HAL 9000.
- Deceptively Human Robots: The duplicants perfectly copy their originals' face and voice, but some display more personality than others. The Gordon robot has no warmth to it at all, while Randa Duane puts on a much better façade.
- Dissonant Serenity: Randa Duane, in a disturbing manner. She is quite charming, and even displays humor, when interacting with Bruce Wayne, but becomes completely cold and indifferent when left alone, not moving a single facial muscle even when making the sensational discovery that Bruce is Batman.
- Fun with Acronyms: H.A.R.D.A.C. stands for Holographic Analytical Reciprocating DigitAl Computer.
- Meta Casting: William Sanderson playing a near-Expy of J.F. Sebastian.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Barbara begins to notice something's off about her dad when the robot duplicate throws her teddy off the couch, since Gordon likes to keep it nearby.Barbara: Dad?
"Gordon": [reading the newspaper] I said, I'm fine. - Robot Me
- See-Thru Specs: The Randa Duane duplicant uses these to locate Wayne's backup files—and then she spots the hidden staircase to the Batcave behind the bookshelf.
- Sequel Hook: Randa finds the Batcave and figures out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. This becomes an important plot point for the later episode "His Silicon Soul."
- Shout-Out: A boatload—R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (Karl Rossum, the license plate "RUR"), Blade Runner ("Duplicants"), Metropolis (Randa Duane's jumpsuit), The Killing Joke (the scene at Commissioner Gordon's house), Transformers: Generation 1 (Cybertron Industries), 2001: A Space Odyssey (H.A.R.D.A.C.'s HAL 9000–esque red eye)...
- Uncanny Valley: The Gordon robot easily passes for human, but those who interact with it at length (and know Gordon well) realize that something is off.
- Verbal Tic: "I'm fine."
