Batman and Nightwing use a fire hose to subdue two bears. Interestingly, they used the same method against two polar bears in the feature film, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1997).
Detective Harvey Bullock refers to the clown in this episode as "Clarabell," an allusion to the clown on The Howdy Doody Show (1947). Clarabell never spoke on the show until the very end of the very last episode when he said, simply, "Goodbye, kids."
When asked about her parents, Miranda says they've retired to Sarasota. Sarasota, Florida was the long-time winter home of the Ringling Brothers Circus. Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) was filmed there. The movie is a love story set in and staring the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
This only one of three episodes to deal with Dick Grayson's past growing up in Haley's Circus. The other two are Robin's Reckoning: Part I (1993) and Robin's Reckoning: Part II (1993) from Batman: The Animated Series (1992).