Many of the posters and pieces of art in the game are edited to include developers from 4A games in them.

The texture of the scoped Tihar contains a battery with text that translates to;
"BATTERY. Super powerful energy cell produced by Sushka_invented_it_himself. Made in 4A Games"

Sushka, also known as Сушка, is one of the developers.

A broken-down truck on the Bridge level has "Доставка хрени к вам домой" written on the side. This is Russian for "Delivering crap to your home".

Pavel is based off of Pavel Trofimovich Morozov, a figure in Soviet history. According to popular legend, he was a 13-year martyr who denounced his father to the authorities, and was in turn killed by his family. Since that time, Russians are known to call Spoiler:traitors "Pavlik Morozov", suggesting that they betray their closest associates.

Throughout the game, it's possible to find several copies of Dmitry Glukhovsky's books, Metro 2033, Metro 2034, and Metro 2035, of which the games are based on.

During the development of Metro: Last Light, the development team was forced to work without power, heat, or even proper furniture at times.