The skull seen on Steve Austin's truck in the beginning and on his watch face are a nod to his 'Broken Skull' symbol from when he wrestled.
In an early scene in the woods, Banks says to Crab about not shooting him: "I am not going to kill you" then turns to Jensen handing him his gun and says "Shoot that piece of sh**" appears to be a homage to the movie "Scarface" When Tony Montana says the same thing to Manny just before Lopez was killed.
At the beginning when the two border patrol agents are moving in the meth trailer, they continually run in front of the others shotgun field of fire.
Gil Bellows (Maxwell Lord), Michael Eklund (Richter Maddox / Will), Michael Hogan (Slade Wilson), Adrian Holmes (Basqat / Griff), Brent Stait (Dr. Fate), Emilie Ullerup (Catherine Grant), and Donnelly Rhodes (Milash) have all guest starred on Smallville.