Many months of preparation took place for the the visual effect of Gustavo Fring's facial wounds, with assistance from the special effects team from the AMC drama The Walking Dead.
In order to produce the effect, elaborate makeup was used on Giancarlo
Esposito's face, and combined with computer-generated imagery that took
two seperate shots and combined them in post production.
The episode is named after the 1818 poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley about the inevitable fall of kings and empires.
Hank Schrader is the third main character to die.
The posture Walter gets into after Hank's death is similar to Gus's posture after Max Arciniega's death. Walt and Hank are also brother-in-laws,
just like Gus and Max were brothers in some form or another. This is
also reminiscent of a picture portrayal of the poem "Ozymandias".
The pair of pants Walt passes while rolling his barrel are the same pants he lost while driving the RV, at the beginning of the pilot episode.
The final shot is a stray dog crossing Walt's path away. As
Gale was the "Problem Dog" and Jesse the "Rabid Dog", Walt has become
the "Stray Dog" having effectively lost his home and family
The title refers to Uncle Tio's question as to how much longer Marco
has to live under water. "One minute?" It also refers to how much time
Hank has until the Salamanca brothers attack.
When Hank receives the call regarding the attempt on his life, the clock reads "3:07." This episode is number 3x07.
The trucker that the cousins purchase the vests from drives a replica of the Kenworth that appeared on the show B.J. and the Bear.
It has been hinted that Gus's future head enforcer Tyrus Kitt was the mysterious caller who warned
Hank about the Cousins just moments before the planned assassination. However, It was actually Gus himself who warned Hank about the attack.
The final scene between Hank and Marco is replicated in the finale cutscene of the Gameloft's third person shooter 9mm.'
Dean Norris said the scene where he is talking to Marie
and tells her basically he isn't the man she thinks he is was the most
affectionate scene for him, because he almost had his head chopped off
by an axe afterwards.
According to creator Vince Gilligan, this was a "bottle episode."
Because the season was already "hopelessly over budget," it became
necessary to create an episode with minimal production costs. By filming
in one location and using the fewest number of actors in the series to
date, "Fly" cost substantially less than the average episode.
