The chase in the snow-covered hedge maze at the end of the film is a tribute to a similar sequence in Shining (1980). A snippet of that film's score even plays over the establishing shot of the maze.
When the two Hippo cops crash into the docks, several apples are rolling towards them, and they eat them. This is a reference to the game "Hungry Hungry Hippos," where hippos eat different-colored balls in the same way.
The two goat cops are named Bûcheron and Chèvre, both voiced by French actor Jean Reno. Chèvre means "goat" in French, and Bûcheron is a famous French goat-cheese.
During the festival Burning Mammal a zebra and a wolf can be seen dressed up as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.
In an interview with Animation Magazine, director Byron Howard says this is the biggest film ever made in the history of Disney Animation.
"We've got one shot that features 50,000 animals on the screen at the same time!"