Bashir makes reference to TNG: "The Wounded", as well as DS9: "Whispers" and "Tribunal". Obviously, this is another 'O'Brien Must Suffer' episode. Ira Steven Behr sums up the rationale for these episodes: "Every year, we like to drive O'Brien totally mad."
This episode features a performance by Margot Rose as K'par Rinn, one of O'Brien's jailers. She previously appeared in the beloved The Inner Light (1992), as Kamen's wife Eline. In that Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) episode, Picard is swept into an imaginary world for 50 years, as O'Brien is swept into a cell for 20 years in this Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) episode.
The same premise of putting convicted criminals in a virtual reality prison simulation, where they experience decades of imprisonment during a few hours period, was featured in an episode of The Outer Limits entitled The Sentence (1996) (directed by Joseph L. Scanlan who also directed four episodes of TNG), which aired four months after "Hard Time".
F.J. Rio (Enrique Muñiz) played the same character in the DS9 episodes "Starship Down" and "The Ship". Rio also played Joleg in Voyager "Repentance" and the Vissian chief engineer in Enterprise "Cogenitor".