Lovin' Spoonful's 1966 hit Summer in the City is used during the looting sequence.
Homer attempting to recruit companions for his security company in the Springfield church is a reference to the 1952 western film High Noon, although the line "You all know me" is was taken from the 1975 horror/thriller film Jaws.
The Mafia's journey to the Simpsons' house is a spoof of the opening of HBO's hit drama series The Sopranos, complete with the show's opening theme, "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3. Three of Fat Tony's Jersey henchmen also bears great resemblance to Paulie, Silvio and Christopher, three of the main supporting characters in the show.
The "students (Skinner) hasn't seen in years" are Jughead Jones from the Archie comics (accompanied by the Archies' hit single "Sugar, Sugar"), Fat Albert and Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli from Happy Days. Jughead and Fat Albert both appeared in Saturday morning cartoons produced by Filmation Associates.
Otis, the town drunk, is a parody of Otis -- the Mayberry town drunk -- from The Andy Griffith Show.
Trivia[]
The settings on Groundskeeper Willie's air conditioner are: Glasgow Winter, Well-Digger's Bum, and Witch's Teat.
Homer's SpringShield slogan is "Have no fear! SpringShield's present!"
Carl is seen driving a Canyonero and Lenny is seen driving a Chevrolet Suburban. After Lenny and Carl crash their vehicles, it can be seen that the interior door panel of the Suburban is well-drawn to resemble the real-life Suburban's.
The butterfly that bursts into flames and screams is likely the Screamapillar from the previous episode, "The Frying Game", after pupating into a butterfly.
Fat Tony and his henchmen are seen driving a Dodge Caravan when they are going to the Simpsons house.
SpringShield's phone number is 636-555-3472. In real life, this number would be from the St. Charles, Missouri, area, but like many 555 numbers, this number is not actually in use.
When the power goes out through Springfield Moe says, "Oh no the powers out? We'll miss FOX celebrity boxing." The night when this episode appeared, celebrity boxing was right after it. Barney said "I heard they'd have Ed Bradley versus Mr. Ed".
This episode was originally supposed to air in season 14 but FOX chose to air a "bonus episode."
This episode was dedicated to the memory of Stephen Jay Gould. Stephen appeared as himself in the season 9 episode "Lisa the Skeptic."
When Homer said someone will take his place, then he will take his place, the only people who will take his are Lenny and Carl.
In "Separate Vocations" it is revealed that Homer wanted to be a police officer but was rejected due to his stupidity and in "Bart the Murderer", he pretended to be a police officer. In this episode he finally becomes a police officer.
The last time Homer took the law into his own hands, because Chief Wiggum was corrupt and/or incompetent, occurred in "Homer the Vigilante".
Drederick Tatum's line 'I think I speak for myself, Comic Book Guy and Bumblebee Man' is an in-joke, as Hank Azaria voices all three of these characters.
The gun Maggie uses to shoot the gangsters might be the same one Homer inadvertantly placed beside her in "Mom And Pop Art".
The shot of Springfield as the power goes out is a reworked version of a shot from "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", when Bart and Lisa get a view of the town on top of Mount Springfield.
Goofs[]
When the Simpson family is following the fan early in the episode, Lisa is barefooted. However after Homer goes to plug in the Santa doll, she is suddenly wearing shoes. Then after the blackout, she is barefoot again.
Ruth with pale skin and reddish hair
When The Sea Captain is holding the super ball, it is light blue. After he throws it, it becomes more of an aqua color.
At the Springfield Town Hall, Ruth Powers has pale yellow skin and reddish-brown instead of her usual bright yellow skin and dark brown hair.
Cletus and Brandine have a pale skin color instead of their usual bright yellow one. Brandine also has gray hair instead of her usual red-orange hair, while Cletus' hair is black instead of the usual dark red.
When Homer is in the Kwik-E Mart, Apu offers for him to take a penny from the tray stating there's only one penny left, however when Homer takes the coin there's another in its place.
When Chief Wiggum cocks his gun after shooting at a pinata, the bottom of the gray section of the gun turns brown for a few seconds.
SpringShield was a security company, not a police force. Mayor Quimby may have turned duties to SpringShield, but he didn't say that they were the entitled police force.
When Maggie was looking at the fan, Maggie was in her diaper. A few scenes later, she was seen in her blue clothes.
Homer mentions being a homophobe, hippie, and grifter but none of them are jobs.
Homer may only think it's a job. In addition, he earned money from grifting, and he "helped" Seth and Munchie "fix" the Garden Blast drink.
When the Mafia meet up before heading to the Simpson's house Fat Tony looks at his wrist after speaking with Johnny Tightlips as if to confirm that it is time to leave, but he is not actually wearing a watch.
