The most profitable video game of all time at its release. It earned more than $500 million in its first 5 days.
If the first Modern Warfare game is set in 2011 than the second game is set in 2016 as Sheperd says in the opening that 5 years had passed since the end of Call of Duty 4.
It's release set the record for biggest entertainment launch in history, making $310 million in the United States and United Kingdom during it's first 24 hours on sale, surpassing previous record holder Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), as well as other forms of media, such as music and film.
In the mission called 'The Gulag' where you infiltrate a prison to rescue 'Prisoner 627', you enter a shower room. Eagle eyed players will have noticed that this shower room is identical to one in 1996 film, 'The Rock'. This is one of many references this game makes to 'The Rock'.