The episode is set against the real-life banking crisis, known as The Panic of 1890, when Barings Bank was faced with collapse due to overexposure to Argentine and Uruguayan debt. Through the Bank of England, Barings was bailed out by a consortium of other banks. It caused turmoil in financial markets.
The episode opens at a time when police were cracking down on male brothels, or molly houses. It is inspired by and contains allusions to a police investigation in 1889 that centred on a molly house in Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia involving telegraph boys, peers and MPs.
The episode title "Threads of Silk and Gold," is spoken by Long Susan (MyAnna Buring). "You swore you would weave our lives together... with threads of silk and gold."