 Fred Toye served as the episode director , his second after directing " The Ghost Network " six installments earlier . To create the opening scene of character Mark Young being " attacked " by butterflies , Toye shot it in multiple phases . Series co @-@ creator Roberto Orci preferred the opening scene to involve a " more subtle " death , so Young was made to die from falling out a window , which was " a real thing , something that 's not imagined or whimsical " . VFX coordinator Christopher Stollard stated that his crew " relied entirely on actor performance , " with guest actor Ptolemy Slocum communicating often with the crew during filming . He shot his scenes in short bursts . Slocum summarized that he " would experience the [ butterfly ] cut and then we would freeze , apply make @-@ up [ to create the cut on his skin ] , and then <unk> and move on " filming . On his first day , Slocum stated that he wore more than 75 individual <unk> over his entire chest and arms . 
