The title is named after the quote " If there were no thunder, men would have little fear of lightning" by Jules Verne.
In this alternate time-line of Watchmen, Steven Spielberg is also renowned cinema director, however, instead of Schindler's List (1993), he directed 'Pale Horse', named after a band that was playing at Madison Square Garden when the squid creature attacked. This fictional film, as 'Schindler's List', includes the iconic girl whose red coat is the only splash of color in the black-and-white film.
In the opening scene in Hoboken 1985, a young guy reads the "Tales of the Black Freighter". The "Black Freighter" is a comic book that acts as a story-within-in-a-story, in the original DC Watchmen comic.
When Wade arrived at Hoboken in 1985, one person can be seen reading a magazine with an ad for "The Veidt Method", a fitness and self-improvement book mentioned in the original DC Watchmen comic that is published by Adrian Veidt.
In this alternate timeline of Watchmen, the November 2, 1985, arrival of the giant squid creature is known as "11/2" in the same way the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the U.S. is regarded as "9/11". The fictional version was much deadlier than the real one.