The title references the 1957 film An Affair to Remember.
The wall message "Bender Lives Large and Kicks Butt" being turned into "Bender Licks Butt" is a parody of the fold-in joke pages seen at the end of every issue of MAD Magazine.
As the professor says, Bender is made of 0.04% Nickel impurity, which make him different from any other Bender robot and therefore unique.
At Bender's mock funeral, Zoidberg sings "Danny Boy".
Fry says "I've got a bad feeling about this", a quote from Star Wars which has passed into common usage.
O'Cyris IV is named after the primary deity of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon, Osiris. The man with the bird face is similar in appearance to the Ancient Egyptian deity of scribes, Thoth. The guards look similar to the deity that guards the dead in the Ancient Egyptian afterlife, Anubis. The Prophet Reader is also wearing the combined pharaohonic crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.[1]
The Osirins mention being taught space travel and pyramid building by Earth's Egyptians, a role reversing reference to the Erich von Daniken books which introduced a plethora of circumstantial evidence to suggest that the Egyptians, and other ancient civilizations, had been aided in their progress by extraterrestrials. Daniken admits to having fabricated one piece of evidence.[2]
The comedians Abbot and Costello are mentioned directly. Their film Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy references horror movies that concern archaeological digs in Egypt and their discoveries, along with the modern myths of Pharaoh's curses and the like.
The nose of Hamenthotep's statue falling off references the missing extremities and protuberances of innumerable statuary, notably the Great Sphinx of Giza.
At the end of Hamenthotep's funeral, the attendees are told "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!", a reference to old live show routines.
The singer at the previous Pharaoh's funeral is a parody of Elton John, renowned at the height of his career in the 1970s for a great variety of elaborate stage costumes; he parodies the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs "Daniel", "Benny and the Jets", and "The Bitch is Back", and spoofs the version of "Candle in the Wind", which he reworked and sang especially for the funeral of Princess Diana.
The Liberty Meadows Slave Quarters references similarly ironically euphemistic names used for propaganda purposes.[3]
One of the slave masters is wearing a shirt upon which is written "What would Pharaoh do?", referencing the "What would Jesus do?" line of T-shirts and bumper stickers.
The coronation ceremony of the new Pharaoh is a parody of the Egyptian-themed nighttime performance at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
Bender's entrance, after being named Pharaoh, is a reference to the tour act by the then-standup comedian Steve Martin for his 1978 song "King Tut", itself a parody. The dance move was perfected and popularized in the 1980s by the the Bangles in videos and performances of their song "Walk like an Egyptian". Also, his entrance style can be a parody of Sol Kane's entrance for his speech from Doomsday.
Bender's tomb is completely sealed off. This is a reference to the Egyptian pyramids, which were designed with massive sliding blocks of stone for the purpose of sealing the giant tombs from grave robbers. Ducts through which thousands of snakes subsequently enter partially references the air vents built into the pyramids. Also, this is a more direct reference to the trapped tombs and treasure hoards in the Indiana Jones films and the Tomb Raider computer game series that followed it.
1.5 million cubits is approximately 284 miles (457 km).
Bender says that everyone in planet express will be doomed to obscurity, "especially Leela". However, at this point in the series, Leela had went down in history as the worst Blernsball player of all time.
