Hybrid IFR/instrument/visual technique is utter bollocks
Or, in fact, the safe way to fly VFR at night.
You need to be able to see the ground at all times to maintain proper orientation, and be in no doubt about it.
And do please tell how you do that when it is dark (except with a cloudless night and full moon).
Seeing lights on the ground is not the same as seeing the ground itself. However, lit structures can give you orientation and scale information - buildings, roads etc - but in order to form a coherent mental model of the outside world for orientation, you need a horizon or something that will serve as a horizon..