The title of the episode is based off the Latin phrase "Deus ex machina" which translates to "God from the machine". Today the phrase is used in literature and theater to describe a type of plot device that brings about a sudden solution to an otherwise unsolvable problem, usually by the appearance of some new character or by a previously unknown skill one of the current characters has. In other words it is a short-cut sometimes used by writers to allow a character(s) to be able to suddenly solve a complex problem without the writer having to explain to the audience how the solution came about or how it works.
One of the initial suspects is named Harry Magarac. "Magarac" is Croatian for "jackass" or "donkey".
The source code shown after the conversation at the second crime scene is part of the source code of the programming language Perl, with some occurrences of "perl" exchanged with "auto."
John Noble talks of a restaurant "La Val Gielgud" with Lucy Liu. Val Gielgud was a famous British director and brother of Sir John Gielgud.