BD Wong is known for portraying and earning a Tony nomination for Song Liling in "M Butterfly" by David Henry Hwang. It is a famous story of a man dressing up and pretending to be a woman falling in love with a man. Whiterose's story isn't quite the same, but shares similarities, and hails back to BD Wong's most infamous stage role.
The opening title card doesn't appear on screen until 14 minutes into the episode.
This episode takes place (after the flashback introduction to 1982) entirely on December 24, 2015.