Lum briefly stops at a restaurant called "Coffee Pierot". This is a reference to Studio Pierrot, the studio that animated the movie.
Roses are Elle's motif in the film:
- Elle's full name is Elle de Rosenbach.
- Elle's home world is shaped like a rosebud and its capital is Baran (named after "bara", the Japanese word for "rose").
- Elle's nanny is named Babara, a pun on the words "baba" ("old lady") and "bara".
- Elle's subordinate is named Rose.
- During the flashback sequence, the young Elle can be seen wearing a nametag that reads: "Baragumi Eru" (Elle of the Rose Group). In Japan, kindergarten classes within the same school may have distinctive names, such as "sakuragumi" (cherry blossom class), or "momogumi" (peach class).
Rose stowed away in the space taxicab in a tanuki statue. A takuni is a type of racoon-dog indigenous to Japan; in Japanese folklore, a tanuki is often portrayed as a shapeshifter, appropriate for a master of disguise like Rose.
Lum throws a pun Ataru's way as they spend some time alone aboard her father's ship. She presents their "engeejiringu" (engagement rings) to him, and threatens to give him a "cho-denki rinchi" (super-electric lynching) if he ever tries to take his off.
The name of Elle's planet in Japanese is "Erusei". This is likely a pun on "urusei", part of the series title "Urusei Yatsura".