According to Noah Hawley, the writer of the episode, the main idea of the episode was that the characters would get to save a person's life by using their skills, whereas in most of the series' episodes they find a dead body, then investigate the death. Hawley also wanted to raise Booth's stakes in this case, then give him the chance to take some real action and save a boy's life not just based on his expertise as an investigator and a sniper, but also as a father. In addition, the security review conducted on the characters in the episode was used to explore each person's quirks and create possible scenarios that played against who the audience thinks they are.