Jürgen Prochnow and David Warner appeared in Wing Commander - Attacco alla Terra (1999), the movie adaptation of the Wing Commander games also produced by Origin (the first Privateer game was set in the Wing Commander universe).
"Ser" is the Tri-System equivalent of "Mr." and Serra is the equivalent of "Ms.". Although in the intro sequence, an assassin says "Clear this, Mr. Nurse!" and Melissa Banks calls Lev Arris "mister" a couple of times.
This was originally intended to be an adventure-type game made in Britain. When the budget for this game and one other active project began to spiral higher and higher the two projects were merged.
Six of the eight main planets in the Tri-System; Anhur, Crius, Hades, Hermes, Hephaestus, and Janus IV, are named after mythological Gods from the Ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian eras. Karatikus is named after Caratacus, the leader of a British tribe who resisted the Roman invasion. The planet Bex, which produces Bex Beer, was probably named after Beck's, the German beer brand.
The Papagod pirate clan fighters Ashearer and Ecantona are named after the footballers Alan Shearer and Éric Cantona.