On account of budgetary restrictions, the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) was never quite satisfied with the Borg sets and costumes as used during the series. However, the significantly bigger budget for this film finally allowed them to design the Borg in a way that was much closer to what they had intended. As a result, the suits and sets were reused extensively on Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
Although his name is never given in this film, according to "Star Trek" canon, the Vulcan who salutes Zefram Cochrane is named Solkar. As mentioned in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Solkar is the grand father of Sarek, and subsequently the great-grandfather of Spock.
The Borg Queen was created because the writers were having difficulty in writing dialogue for what was intended to be the Borg's central computer.
When the Vulcans land on Earth and make first contact, Cochrane is unable to return the Vulcan salute. This is a reference to an old joke about Star Trek (1966). Many fans and quite a few actors throughout the "Star Trek" franchise cannot separate their fingers the right way. The most notable actor who cannot do this is William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk). Mike Johansen can do the salute but only with his left hand, even though he is right-handed. Zachary Quinto had to have his fingers glued together to perform the salute to Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek (2009).
Whoopi Goldberg was not asked to return as Guinan, a character with a long standing enmity with the Borg as shown in previous Trek projects. She only learned about the decision through the newspapers. She said "What can I say? I wanted to do it because I didn't think you could do anything about the Borg without my character, but apparently you can, so they don't need me."
Ethan Phillips: The actor who plays Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager (1995) is the maitre'd of the holodeck nightclub scene.
Dwight Schultz: Reprised his role as Lieutenant Reginald Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995). Schultz was three hours late when arriving to the set, because he got lost, and a crew member had to go get him.
Robert Picardo: Reprised his role as the Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek: Voyager (1995). He is seen in the gray and black uniform for the first time here.
Ronnie Rondell Jr.: This film's stunt coordinator appears in the holodeck nightclub scene, as the man who warns Captain Picard that he is about to take his actions personally.