There's a few scenes in the early part of the episode that loosely recreate the opening scene of the original Psycho (1960) movie where the girl is on the run and trades her car for another one.
Based on a "spoiler" video posted by the Bates Motel Facebook page, this episode contained the anticipated "Norman's Sleeping" scene.
During the Bates Motel panel of Chicago Walker Stalker Con in 2017, Max Thieriot revealed that while filming the kitchen scene where Dylan knocks Norman out, he accidentally hit Freddie Highmore for real. As a result, Freddie collapsed and laid on the floor, not moving, but his foot was twitching. The whole accident can be seen in the episode as cameras kept rolling.
The scene where Norman is in the basement doing taxidermy and the bird comes to life is a reference to Psycho III.