When Sam meets Shetland in the first level, Shetland asks who Sam is now working for. He guesses at SEALS and CIA. Sam replies, "No, staying anonymous," the acronym of which is NSA for whom Sam actually works.
This is the only game to include the Half-split jump (a variation on the split jump), allowing Sam to jump to another level from within a tight passage. Within half-split Sam holds one leg under his body against a wall, while the other is extended against the other wall.
Lambert's coffee mug has the Ubisoft logo on it.
Ads for the Ubi Soft game "Prince of Persia" are featured in both the single-player and multi-player game.
The game was developed by Ubisoft Shanghi. The first Splinter Cell was developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The Montreal branch took a short break after completing the first Splinter Cell and then went on to develop Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.