Creator Robert Doherty said that one of his motivations for a female Dr. Watson was to show that men and women can "work and live together and not end up romantically entangled."

The recurring character Detective Bell is a brilliant policeman with deductive powers of his own. This is a nod to Dr. Joseph Bell, a Scottish physician and professor, acquaintance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the real-life model for Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock's tattoos belong to Jonny Lee Miller. Unlike Holmes's tattoos, however, Miller's are not self-administered.

In Joan's Chelsea apartment there is an artwork above her bed. This is a silkscreen done by Lucy Liu herself.

Before creating the show, Robert Doherty studied psychological assessments of Sherlock Holmes written by real doctors over the years.

Throughout the show, Sherlock is shown to keep and study bees as a hobby. In the original short story "His Last Bow", Sherlock Holmes has retired to the Sussex Downs to keep bees.

"Diogenes" was also mentioned in several of the original Sherlock Holmes stories as the name of a club that Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, had co-founded.

In the summer of 2011 Danny Boyle created a National Theatre production of 'Frankenstein' in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller played the creator and monster and alternately changed nightly. Both actors then went on to play another Victorian creation Sherlock Holmes, both set in the present day, albeit opposite side of the Atlantic.

Joan's mother's name is Mary Watson. This is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in which Dr. Watson's wife's name is Mary.

The show is often filmed in NYC on 7th avenue and 51st & 52nd street

The creators of this show reportedly went to great lengths to potential copyright issues with the British series Šerlokas (2010), which also re-tells the story of Holmes in a contemporary setting. One visual cue included as a nod to the British series is Holmes' scarf, which is worn the same way as it is in "Sherlock".

Neither Jonny Lee Miller nor Lucy Liu had read a Sherlock Holmes story before securing roles in the pilot.

Rooftop scenes, such as when Sherlock attends to his beehives, are filmed on the Silvercup studios roof in Long Island City. It's the same place where McLeod and Kurgan fought at the end of Kalnietis (1986).

The recurring character of Mrs. Hudson, portrayed by Candis Cayne, the occasional cleaning woman for Sherlock's brownstone, is a nod to the original Arthur Conan Doyle character of the same name, who is the proprietress or landlady of 221b Baker Street, London, in the original canon, and in most Holmes screen incarnations.

A character named Inspector Tobias Gregson appears in A Study in Scarlet and other short stories and is a different character from Lestrade.

CBS was originally going to have 13 episodes for season 6 but ordered an additional eight episodes bringing the sixth season total up to 21 instead to replace Wisdom of the Crowd.

Joan's brother is called Oren, as was Lucy Liu's character in the Kill Bill movies.

Dr. Watson's wardrobe (at least all of season 6) follows a black and white theme.

Michael Cuesta, who directed the pilot, initially wanted to cast Rupert Friend as Sherlock. But after seeing the actor's audition tape, he decided to cast Friend in Homeland instead.

The role of Sherlock Holmes has also been played by David Arquette in a Los Angeles theatrical production. Arquette appeared with Jonny Lee Miller in "Dead Man's Walk (1996) (TV)'. Arquette played Augustus McCrae, a role previously played by Robert Duvall, who played Doctor Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976).

The mannequin Sherlock (and occasionally, Watson) beats on in different episodes, "Bob", is almost identical to the mannequin Sandra Bullock beats on in the 2000 film "Miss Congeniality", with the exception of the bulls-eye painted on Bob's forehead.

Ironically, Jon Michael Hill, who plays Detective Marcus Bell, doesn't show up next to the bell in the opening credits. Aidan Quinn, who plays Captain Thomas Gregson, does.

Raza Jaffrey, who plays Andrew Paek (a love interest for Joan Watson) is in his private life married to actress Lara Pulver, who plays Irene Adler (a love interest for Sherlock Holmes) on the BBC-TV series Sherlock.

In two instances, actors who played recurring characters on Elementary died soon after their characters were killed off on the show. The character of Alistair died in the episode "No Lack of Void," which aired on April 10, 2014; on July 10, 2015, the actor who played Alistair, Roger Rees, died of stomach cancer at age 71. The character of Shinwell died in the episode "Moving Targets," which aired on May 7, 2017; the actor who played Shinwell, Nelsan Ellis, died on July 8, 2017 at the age of 39.

The show makes various Easter egg references to The Wire and Treme, as well as having actors from both series in guest cameo roles. As well as Reed Diamond from Homicide: Life on the Street, another David Simon creation. He asks if they call the interrogation room "The Box" which is what it was referred to as on that show.

In season four, John Noble began a recurring role as Sherlock's father Morland. Though credited with the rest of the main cast, he is only credited in the episodes in which he appears.

Vinnie Jones, the actor who portays the rabid football supporter 'M.' in season 1 episode 12, has in fact played football professionally prior to becoming an actor. He played in Chelsea for a period, which happens to be Johnny Lee Miller's (Sherlock) favourite team.