The language spoken by the cab driver (Efraiem Hanna) was Egyptian. Rami Malek (Elliot)'s father is Egyptian
and Sam Esmail's parents are Egyptian.
"The key was in my fist. My fist was in my pocket", one of Angela (Portia Doubleday)'s answers to the little girl, is excerpted from Vladimir Nabokov's novel, "Lolita". The book is also the origin of Darlene (Carly Chaikin)'s heart-shaped sun glasses, and her screen name, Dolores Haze.
While in the room with the fish tank, a copy of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" is shown lying on the table. This book is well known for being adapted into the movie Lolita (1962), directed by Stanley Kubrick, who is a large influence of Sam Esmail and of the show in general.
In the previous episode, Angela (Portia Doubleday) mentions Back to the Future Part II (1989) when talking to Elliot (Rami Malek) on the subway, and this episode contains 4 songs from the trilogy's previous film Back to the Future (1985): "Night Train" and "Earth Angel" that were played by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" that is playing on the jukebox in Lou's Cafe, and "Time Bomb Town" that was playing on the radio of the street bum Red on the bench in the town square when Marty returned to 1985.
The computer in the dark room is a Commodore 64 which was first sold in 1982. Similar to the Apple IIe, the C64 CPU and keyboard were in one integrated unit with connections for a monitor and peripherals, but no external storage, that ran software off 5" floppy disks. Among the early video games available for the Commodore 64 was "Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory", released in 1984.