Clark's fellow patient is Martian Manhunter, a DC Comics superhero. In Clark's delusion, the Martian Manhunter is shown to be afraid of the guard's lighter flame. In the comics, fire is one of his weaknesses.
Labyrinth, a board game for one to four players, published by Ravensburger in 1986 can be seen along with the books Fortress of Solitude: A prison memoir, World Travel, The Crystal Ship, magazines like The Phantom Zone and Championship Soccer by Tatu and Kevin Crow among other books placed in the prison where Clark was kept in the parallel world.
Chloe suggests to Clark about a girl in the parallel universe who is editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Lois Lane fits the bill to both these categories.
This episode is very similar to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Normal Again", in which Buffy Summers was drugged into believing that she was in a mental institution for dreaming up her life as the Slayer. The main difference is that Clark believed that he was in a mental institution at all times, while Buffy merely suffered flashes back and forth between the real world and the hallucination, whereas the main similarity was that they both were superpowered heroes, and a main character around their friends, in a perfect world.
Shelby can be heard growling throughout the episode. At some points, the phantom makes noises as well. Shelby is the hero who saves Clark this time, by making him realize that all this was not real and that he was really still in the Kent barn. Also, throughout the entire delusion sequence, a constant, monotonous drone accompanies the soundtrack, which is perhaps meant to signify the Martian Manhunter's attempt to remove the phantom from Clark's mind using the crystal.