The various Nick's pizzerias are loosely based on the New York pizza wars where there are more than 40 pizza restaurants with some variation of the name Ray's in the name. They include Original Ray's, Famous Ray's and World Famous Original Ray's.
The episode features a smuggling ring which uses the names of characters from classic film noir as code words. Richard Castle and Kate Beckett manage to expose one of the smugglers' outlets by using the code word "Sam Spade". Sam Spade is the protagonist of the novel "The Maltese Falcon" (1930) by Dashiell Hammett, and its film adaptations. The role is closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart who played Spade in the third and most successful of the film adaptations.