Director Roger Donaldson pays great attention to details. When the film was shot in a farmhouse outside Toronto, the meticulous preparations had been in progress for several weeks. Production designer Andrew McElpine and photographer Stuart Ribo agreed with the director very much. Strive to create the idea of real texture. To get design inspiration, McEl Pine studied a lot of movies and photos, because there is no precedent for the CIA's secret training camp, and no one knows what the secret training camp looks like. McEl Pine's creativity must be born out of nothing. He said that half of the film's story took place in the CIA's training base, and half took place in Langley headquarters. For the latter, precision must be maintained.
CIA spokesperson Chase Brandon provided important information for the film on special agent training facilities, training methods, and complex recruitment procedures. And arranged for the film's main creators to visit the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and provide relevant information as much as possible, and the effect was immediate.
The assistance provided by the CIA for the film includes permission to take pictures, help design the set, and in some cases allow actors to enter the headquarters building for a period of time. Later, out of security considerations, the CIA no longer allowed the crew to visit the headquarters building, but Brandon could still continue to assist the crew. He carefully measured the distance between the five-pointed star on the memorial wall and the size of the statue in the hall, and tried to help the art department and set designer to create a realistic effect.
