At the end of the opening scene in the gallery you see an Asian woman with long dark hair who says, "Nice ladder" and then takes a bite of an apple. This is a joke on Yoko Ono, famous artist who was married to John Lennon. She did a well known piece with a ladder and magnifying glass. The Apple she is eating is probably a play on the Beatles Apple symbol of their music company.
This episode's title is a tribute to composer Stephen Sondheim. It is a paraphrase of a line from the song "Finishing the Hat" from his musical Sunday in the Park with George; Sondheim titled the second volume of his collected lyrics "Look, I Made A Hat."
Susie calls her brother and brother-in-law "Leopold and Loeb". Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two students who in 1924 kidnapped and murdered a 14 years old boy, just to prove they can do it.
A real-life character like the incredibly outrageous, charismatic Declan Howell could actually have been found in the "Cedar Tavern" where Benjamin takes Midge. Until it was taken apart and its interior sold in 2006, it was an infamous haven for writers like Jack Kerouac and abstract expressionist artists of the era, such as Jackson Pollock, whose name is mentioned in this episode in connection to Declan, and serves as a likely model of the alcoholic, dissipated artist. Also noted in this legendary NYU/Greenwich Village-area tavern are the eminent artists Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline. In addition, another likely habitue of the Cedar Tavern whom Midge encounters is real-life urban activist Jane Jacobs.
Zachary Levi (Benjamin Ettenberg) and Rufus Sewell (Declan Howell) have both worked with someone from the TV show, Firefly (2002). Zach worked with Adam Baldwin in the TV show, Chuck (2007), playing Chuck Bartowski and John Casey respectively, while Rufus worked with Alan Tudyk in the movie, A Knight's Tale (2001), playing Count Adhemar and Wat respectively. Adam and Alan played Jayne Cobb and Hoban 'Wash' Washburne in the show.