a way to speed up photons is to draw some, then go into the console and type "set vx phot" and then some number bigger than 3, because 3 is the normal speed. example: set vx phot 6
This glitch is basically an error with reflection code. It used to happen when photons were passing through a solid object, and were refracted from the inner surface of glass by touching an object without first leaving the glass.
...From the looks of it, he neglected to fix it completely. It's a glitch, and it probably won't work in the next version.
(Though there might eventually be a way to set particle stats through clone or powered clone, which would make this possible.)