So, why did NBC pick The Office as the winner of the 2009 post-Super Bowl slot? As executive Ben Silverman (who ran NBC at the time) recalled, there was talk of choosing The Apprentice, but he wanted to go in a different direction: "What asset do we have that can also grow, sustain, and help really drive the night? Everyone came around to the idea of it being The Office and said, 'Let's do this and let's figure out how we stunt it and make it big.'"
Producer Jen Celotta discussed The Office's game plan from there, saying, "We wanted people who didn't know about The Office and who were watching the Super Bowl to enjoy it. That caused us to think a little differently than we normally would about the show. We ended up throwing out a bunch of story ideas and we never did that before or since." Writer Halstead Sullivan agreed, saying, "We were tasked with making it a stand-alone episode, but making it something that fans who have been along for the ride all five seasons could enjoy, but also people who tuned into the show for the first time would be able to enjoy." Fellow writer Warren Lieberstein added, "It needed to be an electric opening because we were concerned about channel switching."
Finally, they figured out the story: Dwight, in an attempt to test the safety response time of everyone in the office, stages a fake fire, but ends up giving Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) a massive heart attack while everyone completely panics. From there, they just had to shoot the cold open, and it turned out to be one of the most challenging shoots in The Office's history thus far.
