The Colonnade Hotel (where Crockett and Tubbs meet with the Sciantis) still exists in Coral Gables, now owned by the Starwood Hotel Chain, under the Westin brand.
Stan refers to Leroy Neiman (1921-2012), a sports painter. He specialized in abstract depictions of sports action with bright colors, bold splatters and a highly dynamic style. He also applied this style to a range of historical portraits as well along with a few other things, but he is best known as a sports artist and is considered to be the preeminent sports painter of all time. If Whitehead were as knowledgeable as he pretends to be, he would have known the work of Neiman.
This could be the first time in the entire series where bullet holes and blood are seen when someone is shot (in the opening pre-title segment), instead of just the small amount of blood usually observed on the body after the shooting. Usually, when people are shot on this show they simply fall over, albeit dramatically. No blood squibs are ever used or seen, somewhat strangely for a show that dealt with drugs, violence and had a late evening time slot when it aired.
Shortly after this episode was filmed, NBC announced the show's cancellation.
Lucy Lammermoor is said to be the artist who created the all-white "painting" -Lucia di Lammermoor is a famous "arty" opera with a tragic ending for the main prima donna, like Julia.