Hours before the episode aired, a fatal helicopter crash occurred in Canterbury, and due to the helicopter crash storyline featured, network executives at TVNZ nearly pulled the episode. However, pulling it would have caused problems with replacement programming and continuity with the rest of the episodes in its 20th anniversary week, so it went to air with a content warning advising that the episode may disturb some people and that it was filmed well before the day's crash.
The helicopter wreckage was sourced from a helicopter which crashed after a wire got caught in its main rotor while erecting a Christmas tree in Auckland's Viaduct Basin on 22 November 2011. The sound effect of the crashing helicopter came from the same accident, having been inadvertently caught by a Television New Zealand cameraman.