Beginning with the Version 3.1 update, a trio of Bangboo can be found at Fantasy Resort named Spongeboo, Little Starboo, and Boredboo. These Bangboo are references to SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, and Squidward Tentacles respectively from the animated series Spongebob Squarepants, and more references can be found in their dialogue (i.e. Spongeboo being known for making burgers, and Boredboo being an avid flute player in reference to Squidward being a clarinet player). Talking to these Bangboo unlocks the achievement "Ask the Magic Conch!", which is a reference to the season 3 episode "Club SpongeBob".

The design of the Mockingbird faction's Bangboo, Robin, is based on the costume design of the title character from the 1986 stage adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. The name "Robin" references the English folk legend of Robin Hood, who in later interpretations was said to have stolen wealth from the rich to give to the poor, which is also the stated purpose of the Mockingbird faction.

The Spook Shack faction's Bangboo, Miss Esme, is a reference to the manga/anime series Mahou Shoujo Sailor Moon. The name of her skin also comes from an in-game show called "Magic Sailor Boo".

When Ellen Joe received the "On Campus" skin in Version 1.5, her default costume was given the name "Ellen Scissorhands", which is a reference to the 1990 Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands.

Despite not being within the union system, MiHoYo was affected by the 2024-2025 SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike, though this would stem from tangentially unrelated actions they took during this period. For Genshin Impact, MiHoYo previously worked with the voice acting group Formosa Interactive, who were being targeted in the SAG-AFTRA strike, but later announced in January 2025 that they had formed a new partnership with SIDE Global for English voice acting in the game, thereby allowing MiHoYo to have all of their most popular games include new voice work from studios not targeted by the strike. From March to May 2025, they announced that various English voice actors for Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin Impact, and Honkai: Star Rail would be replaced, with several actors involved with the games citing the strike as the reason they withheld their work. On March 27, SAG-AFTRA tweeted a link to guidelines for a video game voice actor union agreement on their website and called on MiHoYo to sign a contract with them, a move that some pointed out would put severe limitations on how the company could work with non-union voice actors and one that MiHoYo did not respond to.

The same day, voice actor Jacob Takanashi announced that he would be serving as the new voice actor for Kinich in Genshin Impact. Takanashi had described it as "the opportunity to carry the flame from the previous flamebearer", making it seem as if Patneaude had stepped down from the role for reasons other than the strike (it should be noted that Patneaude joined the strike in solidarity, and neither of the actors are believed to be union members). This caused many strike supporters to accuse Takanashi of being a scab, with other Genshin Impact voice actors criticizing him including Corina Boettger (Paimon), Kayli Mills (Keqing), and Valeria Rodriguez (Sucrose). Likewise, the playerbase was heavily divided on the situation. While many agreed with the voice actors' sentiment on the situation, others defended Takanashi from the backlash due to him not being a union actor, and criticized the voice actors for what they perceived to be a lack of professionalism.

According to producer Zhenyu Li, there was much discussion among the team when creating the game's characters, often starting with the question, "What have players not seen before?" For example, maid characters had been done several times by that point, prompting the devs to try to brainstorm more elements that could keep them interesting. Their solution for the maid designs was to add tropes commonly seen in horror movies to create a new aesthetic, thus resulting in the designs for the Victoria Housekeeping Co. faction.

To promote the release of the game, HoYoverse collaborated with the YouTube channel Lofi Girl to release a Zenless Zone Zero-themed video featuring the character Belle on the HoYoFair YouTube channel. Similar to Lofi Girl's content, the video features lo-fi remixes of select songs from the game's soundtrack.

Jane Doe's name has two different references in it. The first and most obvious one is a reference to the term "Jane Doe", a placeholder name used in cases where a female individual's real name is either unknown or intentionally concealed (ironically, her Spoiler:New Eridu Public Security (NEPS) Consultant Card implies that her name really is Jane Doe rather than an alias). The second reference is found in her last name "Doe", which is what female fancy mice (domesticated breeds of common house mice) are often referred to as. Both of these references are fitting for Jane's character as she is a mouse Thiren with prominent ears and a tail, and because Spoiler:she works for NEPS as a consultant, specializing in criminal psychology and infiltrating dangerous groups.

On May 13, 2024, the Angels of Delusion faction (tentatively referred to as "Virtual Idols") was leaked by an unknown party through illegal means of obtaining development data, including character design concept drafts. Rather than cover it up, however, the official Zenless Zone Zero bilibili account opted to reveal the group in a blog post and explain details about it. The idea first came about from students on the production team who had a fondness for idol culture and how they believe it can give people strength, giving descriptions on the individual members: "a lead singer who wants to ignite everyone's enthusiasm with her singing, an artist who is born to be the focus of the stage, and a creator with delicate emotions and great talent." They also expressed interest in making real virtual idols based on the group once the designs were finalized, and creating related projects such as character songs around them. In a YouTube video uploaded on April 7, 2025, it was revealed that the faction would be coming to the game during Version 2.0.

To promote the release of Zenless Zone Zero, publisher HoYoverse collaborated with several graffiti artists to create graffiti based on the game across nineteen different cities in Indonesia.