Due to strict security measures, the crew could not shoot in a real airport. Production designer Alex McDowell was responsible for the design and construction of a functional full-scale airport terminal. Almost all filming was done here. Towards the end of the main filming, the crew shot the scene at Mirabel Airport in Montreal, and United Airlines also provided a Boeing 747 for the key scene of the film.
In the design phase, Spielberg's long-term partner, photographer Januzz Kaminsky, worked with McDowell to design a first-class lighting system. According to the design of the script, the airport where Victor was trapped should be the Kennedy International Airport in New York, but McDowell wanted to integrate the characteristics of many international airports, so the design team conducted a lot of research on the capital airports of the United States and European countries.
