I start with how the environment affects the race....you'd never find Vikings in Zimbabwe and vice-versa (dark skin evolved for a reason). Right there you can see that I use real-world examples to draw upon. Similarly, you'd never find a race of lizardmen in a cold area because lizards are cold-blooded...they could evolve into something human-like in a hotter place, though, like a swamp, jungle, or desert. You could have bearmen or elkmen in the north, though.
Placing cultures like Japanese right next to a culture of Greeks doesn't work too well because of the racial spread throughout a region...both sides will affect one another so things will tend to bleed together a bit but if there is a giant desert or big mountains in the way then there is less blending. Here, the environment affects culture.
I also think about what sort of resources are available to a region. A region that is loaded with herbs and berries will produce a different kind of being (in terms of evolution) than an area where one has to overpower others for food. In terms of culture a race based around mining is going to favor strength and a culture based around picking spices is going to favor agility or intelligence. Consequently, an agile race is going to be better at something like music and art because their fingers are nimble whereas a strong race is going to get big and throw their weight around.
As far as changing things up, say like Viking architecture with nomadic clothing, it can work but people will automatically draw a real-world correlation no matter what you do so I try to keep things consistent across the board...Vikings wear fur and live in thatched huts and nomads live in tents and follow camels around. There is one caveat, though...this only applies to human cultures. Your elves and dwarves and cat-people can be anything you want them to be and that's where the fun and fantasy starts for me. For example, my dwarves are almost always like Vikings so I don't need to have any Vikings in my world. Since they're short anything tall could be a giant or a troll so that's the sort of monsters I put there...certainly no djinni or efreeti.
It's the blending of the mundane with the fantastical that sets fire to the imagination. If I'm doing a swamp then the things that live there are the things that will evolve...like frogmen or lizardmen or snakemen or even dragonflymen and mosquitomen. A race of mosquitomen ravaging their neighbors for blood would be truly terrifying but they could also trade the herbs and spices they have for human slaves to drain of blood. Sounds like an idea...hrmmm
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