J.J. Abrams.

Terry O'Quinn as Director Kendall, Greg Grunberg as Eric Weiss, Jean-Pierre Bergeron as Giles Macor, Angus Scrimm as McCollough and Rutger Haur as Anthony Gieger.

• The central Alliance sever was known as server 47.
• The server was stored on a 747.

• "Phase One" marks the nineth episode to be written by J.J Abrams. He also created the series.
• Jack Bender has directed five episodes of Alias.
• The music "Back In Black" by ACDC was originally suggested for the opening scenes by Greg Grunberg.
• "Phase One" aired post-Superbowl on ABC after 11p.m. The shots of Jennifer Garner in lengerie was done in the hopes of attracting some of the Superbowl audience who would not normally watch the show. Little did they know that this episode would bring in the shows highest ever ratings.
• The plane set took Scott Chambliss (set designer) six days to design and build.
• For the pilot episode of the series, the show done a flash forward for the opening scenes. This is the first episode since to do this.
• The stunt guy who fought with Sydney on the plane was actually someone Jennifer Garner worked with that summer on Daredevil. The actress felt so comfortable working with him she didn't hold back during the fight scenes.
• At one point during the fight scene, Jennifer Garner accidentally hit him with a stainless steel Champagne bucket, giving him a massive black eye.
• The script for "Phase One" as delivered late thanks to J.J. Abrams and aside from the plane scene, there was very little preparation time available to the whole cast and crew.
• "Phase One" was originally supposed to be episode #214 and was to air after "Double Agent."
• Before being cast as Gieger, Rutger Haur was sent some VHS tapes of Alias episodes. After watching the show, he was happy to work on the series.
• Sydney's introduction to Gieger was carried out in a way that actress Jennifer Garner did not expect. Thanks to the directing talents of Jack Bender, the scene was moved into a very intense and emotional moment to tap into the past of Syd's character.
• Vaughn and Weiss' plane was actually the back of a truck.
• When the Server 47 plane is crashing, the camera was tilted on its side and foam was blown around the set with a wind machine as Jennifer Garner pretended to be thrown about the cabin.
• Due to time constraints, the subplot of Sydney and Vaughn trying to convince Kendall to move on the SD-6 intel was removed from the episode.
• The scene where Jack delivers the Surface Street warning to Syd was a difficult one to do as it was filmed on the last day before Christmas break. Everyone was so excited to be going home for the holidays, but the cast managed to hold together long enough to get the scene done.
• SD-6's torture chamber is actually the basement of one of the Disney buildings.
• The camera pan into the torture chamber was added post-production using footage from previous episodes.
• In the torture moments, the scenes with Gieger and Jack's previous meeting were almost removed to make room for other plot points but at the last minute it was decided to leave them in.
• The scene while Will speaks to Sydney on the phone was filmed outside of the writers room. This was also the first scene filmed for the episode.
• When Sydney tells Dixon the truth about SD-6, watch the right hand side of her face for the amazing moving hair strand which jumps from blowing in the wind, to being tucked behind her ear and then back blowing about.
• The Sydney/Dixon seen was actually a callback to the pilot where Sydney tells Danny the truth about her job - both scenes were shot in the same location.
• In the assault on SD-6, all of the action took place in a single corridor. The mess was then cleaned up and another action sequence shot.
• The slow motion shots before the assult were taken from a different episode of Alias and re-used.
• The whole raid was filmed in a single afternoon.
• When Sydney shot Gieger, all three shots were done in quick succession. The delay between shots one and two were added by slowing things down in post-production.
• After the destruction of SD-6, there is a spark from the roof while Sydney and Vaughn are kissing. This spark was included as a last minute addition and so the actors didn't expect it to happen. If you watch carefully, you can see them jump as the spark happens.
• The final scene showing Francie's body was directed by Ken Olin. That shot was originally intended for the ending of "Double Agent" (which was supposed to be episode #13). Sloane and Sark's telephone discussion was added to work the scene into the episode.
• This episode was intentionally made more accessible to new viewers - explanations and backstories are given to all organisations and characters in the hopes of grabbing some new viewers from the Superbowl.
• During the 'main' mission on the 747, the music that was played during the parachute scene is the exact same piece of score that was played in season one's "The Coup" when Syd and Dixon go to Vegas.
• Although credited, Lena Olin does not appear in this episode.
• This is the first episode since "Truth Be Told" that does not have a prologue or a "previously..." intro..
• The episode did not feature the standard opening credits and instead the cast and crew names appeared on-screen similar to a feature film.

Track: "Back in Black" – ACDC
Album: Back In Black.
Played: At the beginning as Sydney poses in lengerie.
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Track: "American Woman" – Lenny Kravitz
Album: Greatest Hits.
Played: Syd jogs through the park to access the joint-intelligence centre.
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Track: "Hands of Time" – Groove Armada
Album: Lovebox.
Played: Will and Francie cook lobsters and sparks begin to fly.
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Track: "Use Me" – Bill Withers
Album: Greatest Hits.
Played: Will and Francie tell Sydney that they kissed.
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