2006 A4 2.0T Quattro Tip. 140K
Attempted to get the ashtray out without removing the radio and a/c unit. After 1 hour of struggling to get it out, I spent another 2 hours trying to get it back in. Next morning I was headed out and noticed that I cant push the button on the shifter to get the car out of Park. Only after giving it more force while moving the shifter around (I heard/felt a slight thump, like something got unstuck underneath the still loose ashtray), I was able to get the shifter in Reverse. Arrive at my destination and found out I could not get the key out of the ignition. I looked under the ashtray and found a partial exposed wire (probably from rocking the ashtray in and out) that could be coming from the cigarette lighter.
Could it be the exposed wire causing the car's electronics to prevent me from getting my key out or could it be just a coincidence that something broke in the shifter or ignition?

 

It certainly does sound like you've buggered something up with the shifter. Take everything back apart. The ignition switch has an electrical connection to the shifter that prevents the key from being pulled from the ignition if the car is NOT in Park. The fact that you were not able to push the button on the shifter to out of the Park position tells me you've disconnected something critical underneath.