In news from America, Cora's brother, Harold, is involved in some serious incident which Cora says involves a Senator Fall. That would be the Teapot Dome Scandal in which Senator Fall, who was Secretary of the Interior, would go to prison for accepting bribes for leasing Navy oil reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding.
Robert's trip to America to support his brother-in-law during the Teapot Dome Scandal was devised because Hugh Bonneville needed time away from the set to film The Monuments Men (2014).
When the jazz band is playing for Roberts birthday the cast wore ear pieces so they could hear the dialogue. Its most noticeable in the ear of Allen Leech.
Towards the end of the episode Cora tells Robert 'Come to bed and dream of ragtime.' Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora, played Evelyn in the 1981 film 'Ragtime'.