I used to work at CCP and asked about the backgrounds, and Homeworld was an influence. In fact the main reason they made a space game was it was easier to render detailed and beautiful spaceships/backgrounds with early-2000s tech, homeworld was proof of that. Aesthetics was literally the subject that made them all agree on a space game, which is interesting because what people tend to think of with Eve Online is the complex systems, but it also a really gorgeous game, even by todays standards.