The title of this episode, "They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?" Is a play on the title of the Oscar-winning 1969 drama "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", which was about a similar marathon dance contest. That title was a dark joke based upon the idea that they used to shoot horses when they couldn't walk anymore, and in the movie, set in the depths of the Depression, the dance contestants were so desperate for the prize money that they pushed themselves to the point of total exhaustion.
After being told by Sookie that Jackson wants to have 4 kids in 4 years, which Sookie doesn't want, Lorelei compares the kids to a fruit bowl given to them by Jackson's mother by saying "You can't stick 4 kids in the attic and just pull them out at Christmas". This is similar to the premise of the 1979 gothic novel 'Flowers in the Attic', which follows the lives of 4 young children kept locked in an attic for several years by their mother and grandmother.
In this episode, Paris mentions the film "Boxing Helena" and ironically the lead actress of that movie ,Sherilyn Fenn, has appeared in Gilmore Girls as Anna Nardini and as Jess' father's girlfriend.
Despite being described as an annual event, the dance marathon is only ever mentioned in this episode. It was not mentioned before and it is never mentioned or shown again during the remainder of the series.