As Nicki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaves her motel room to get ice, and the camera lingers on the closing door, the noise from the television includes the dialogue, "Oh, you're invited at six for dinner" and "I'll bring a suit of armor" playing over a laugh track. The same dialogue is said in the first episode of season 2 (Waiting for Dutch (2015)) by Lou Solverson (Patrick Wilson) and his father-in-law at the Waffle Hut while looking over the crime scene (minus the laugh track).
The story of the Lehman Brothers' downfall is referenced by Varga (David Thewlis). Hamish Linklater, who plays IRS agent Larue Dollard, played a character in the movie The Big Short (2015), which depicts the housing bubble burst that included the fall of Lehman Brothers.
Coen brothers (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) reference: The full name Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov, used by Varga (David Thewlis) in reference to Lenin (to distinguish him from John Lennon), was also used by Walter in The Big Lebowski (1998). Furthermore, Varga specifies "not the walrus" (in reference to John Lennon). In "Lebowski", Donnie repeatedly says "I Am the Walrus?" in response to Walter's Lenin reference, thinking he means Lennon.
Coen brothers (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) reference: The phrase "mere surmise" was also used in A Serious Man (2009).