Series writer Caroline Dries revealed that the protest scenes were shot in the spring of 2020, before the pandemic became widespread. Shooting scenes like that would have been impossible during the months of social-safety lock downs of later 2020-2021.
As Luke is directing Batwoman through Gotham, he mentions "Schwartz Bypass". Julius Schwartz was an editor at DC Comics, and edited the Batman comics in the 60s and 70s.
Ryan is wearing cat-ears when she was attacked in the flashback. This is a possible reference to her leaked character description which describes her liking of cats. It also could be a reference to the supervillain and occasional love interest to Batman, Catwoman
Alice's plan and subsequent attack on the city of Gotham through a swarm of bats references when Penguin framed Batman for murder in Batman Returns (1992). Alice's bat swarm attack and their method of disposal is a scaled down and reworked version of a similar event from the comic book Batwoman (Rebirth).