Highrise is set atop a nearly constructed skyscraper with two office buildings on opposite sides of the map. The center of the map is occupied by an elevated helipad, which many players will try and use to their advantage. Most of the combat on the ground is short to medium range with the construction equipment and in the office buildings. Shotguns and submachine guns are excellent for these offices, but assault rifles are ideal for the sometimes medium-long range combat that occurs in the more open areas. The map is also suitable for sniping, with several vantage points that look over most of, or nearly all of, the map.

A unique feature of this map is its multi-tiered construction; both offices can be accessed by a tunnel underneath, which leads upstairs at various points in between. Near the cranes, there is an elevator shaft with a ladder; behind it is a climbable ledge players can hide behind. Players can access the roof on the South block, and see almost the entire map, although after a few kills these players can easily be taken out and the journey to the roof needs a skillful player that can run and make quick turns on the ledge, while avoiding getting shot. For this reason, a Tactical Insertion is recommended for doing this. Players can climb to the top of the crane at the West side of the map, giving a similar view on the map, and become harder to spot. From that crane, there is access to the ledge above the North tower's office - a Tactical Insertion is also useful here. To get to the North tower, players must climb on to a crane, walk across to the North building, then climb onto one of several window-cleaning platforms and walk across the ledge. There will be a window were Players can crouch under it, there will be a choice if the player wants to go onto the platform (smashing the window) or stay on the ledge.

From either spawn, a ledge is accessible, with help from two window cleaning platforms, at the east edge of the map. This is an effective flank route, especially in search and destroy, where it can be used to take a team from behind.

The stairs on the heli-pad offer a view through the gap between the actual heli-pad and the building in which it is situated on. Players can effectively kill players as they spawn as enemies can do little to prevent this.

In the southern building there is a skylight feature in the roof. This can be used to call in care packages, as well as fire a javelin through. It can also be an area to aim a javelin from outside. You can also fly Predator Missiles through the skylight to hit camping enemies or clear the room out for the flag in Domination. This is useful if enemies are camping in their spawn in Search and Destroy, which is common.

• This map along with 4 other original maps is special for not having a exit blocked by a vehicle.
• Despite its urban and mostly CQB combat many gamers choose to use snipers instead for the spawn-to-spawn sniper battle and the chance to use highly elevated positions like the crane and roof.
• There is a glitch on the map to bring Harriers down to ground level by shooting through the walls of the corner of the south building.
• On top of the southern tower, there is a group of teddy bears with stars on their chests. A teddy can also be found on the light fixtures on the north building.
• Highrise is very reminiscent of the Call of Duty 4 map Wet Work. They are both very linear maps and have high up sniper positions on both sides and middle of the map, albeit not as easily on Highrise. Both maps are also infamous for their ease of spawn trapping.
• It also shares similarities with Pipeline, having two main buildings, an underground passageway, and multiple ways onto the buildings.
• When on the yellow long catwalks, the player can see that the giant letters on the edge of the level spell out "Kriegler" (Lead Map Designer), a fictional shipping company referenced several times in Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2.
• On the building with the teddy bears on it where the concrete block is on the side where it says WKM in the lower left hand corner there's a name that says "ALEXANDER ROYCEWICZ 2009", Alexander Roycewicz also made Overgrown and many more MP maps for both Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2.
• This map has the most teddy bears in the game.
• In the elevators, the same IW sign can be seen scratched into the wood, just as in No Russian.
• Even though the level seems to be on a building that is at least 20 stories high, there are only two elevator buttons.
• The building is 25 and a half stories tall.
• Occasionally, though they are barely noticeable, there are several Mi-24s that fly around the map, indicating that the map is staged during the beginning of the Russo-American War.
• According to the SP-GPS on the US Army Rangers wrists, this map is in New York City, though the surrounding cityscape looks like Chicago.
• The building to the east of the map (not the side with the building with the pool and tables) the round part at the top is floating above the building, the free-cam can fly right under it.
• There is a very detailed office outside of the map, which is odd as usually things outside the map aren't detailed because they'll never be entered by any players. It is possible that this area was originally playable.
• Just south of the map, there are a small collection of office objects on top of the building.
• There is a mark that looks like a teddy bear on the left building near the R of the Kriegler sign.
• If the Javelin is shot directly below the edge of the map, the missile won't engage in the climb but instead just speed straight up.
• The boxes that are found all over the map are filled with candy and cookies. This is also seen on other multiplayer maps, such as Quarry.
• Despite being set a few years into the future, the desktop computers still contain floppy disk drives, however they could just be old computers.
• The phones have the letters CoD4 on them, referring to the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
• In the small shack outside the south building, there is an electrical panel next to the window that does damage if shot at close range. There are also several other panels with the same effect throughout the level, but other panels do not do damage and many of them don't react at all to shots.
• Even though the map is set in New York City during the Russian invasion, there are signs that have Russian letters. Also the helicopter at the heli-pad is a Russian Mi-8 (Although it was probably how the Spetsnaz were inserted into the area).
• If the player tosses a smoke grenade down into the clouds off the side of the building, it will look like a nuke going off.
• Due to the map's height, Harriers may, on occasion, fly below the playable area. They are not solid, hinting that they were never meant to interact with solid objects.
• Throwing the smoke grenade for a care package down into the street will still send the package. However, there is no way to getting to it and the crate will disappear as soon as it hits the ground.
• Despite popular belief, getting to the roof is not a glitch, Infinity ward intended this, that is why the scaffolding is climbable and there are teddy bears on the roof.
• On the Ranger Spawn the clock is upside down.
• Highrise resembles Vertigo, a scrapped map in Modern Warfare 2. Vertigo is only playable through hacking.
• Underneath the fog (which is just a few thin layers) is an aerial photograph of city streets. It is of very bad quality and the cars are not moving.