Detective Sutton recognizes the Winchester brothers as "the drummer boys", Bonham and Watts. Charlie Watts is the drummer for The Rolling Stones and John Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin.
Merrick, the name given up by the captured demon, is the name of one of Anne Rice's vampire characters and New Orleans is her beloved city and the setting for many of her books. Merrick is also the name of Buffy's first Watcher, who found and trained her in both the series and film versions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The beginning of the episode takes place in season 3 between 3.12 Jus in Bello (2008) and 3.13 Ghostfacers (2008). There are multiple clues that say that: The spotlights on the car are back, looking for Lilith, and they used a normal exorcism.
When Lucifer yells GOOD MORNING VIETNAM. This is the same way Robin Williams yelled it in the movie by the same name Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).
Both the actor who plays Nora's son (Jeffrey Ballard) and the actor who plays Young Sam Winchester (Colin Ford) appeared in the CW show Smallville (2001) as different ages of the same character, a boy who grew from a child to a teenager overnight (season 4, episode 20, Ageless (2005)).