A music video for the song was shot the weekend of January 7 , 2011 and directed by Sanaa Hamri . " Fly " was the second music video to be shot in a string of music videos Minaj announced to be shot for promotion , along with " Save Me " and " Girls Fall Like Dominoes " . Minaj and Rihanna both shared behind the scenes photos of the music video on Twitter , where Rihanna sported straight red hair and Minaj wore a curly black wig and a barbed pink dress . In an interview with '' E! Online '' , Minaj spoke briefly about the concept stating , “ We ’re going to save the world in more ways than one with the video and that ’s all I can say about that . ” In an interview with BBC Radio 's Tim Westwood , Minaj spoke very highly about the upcoming video , stating " The video is done . The ‘ Fly ’ video is a freakin ’ movie ! Movie ! Movie ! Cinematic popcorn . " In a blog from Minaj 's website , she stated that the video for " Fly " had been pushed back , but it would be released soon . The video was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood on the plane crash set used for War of the Worlds . In an interview with MTV News , Minaj discussed the song 's video and official release from the album . She stated that the video 's release date and official single release would take place sometime around Memorial Day weekend , as she did not want to interfere with Rihanna 's releases circulating the radio and wanted to allow time for both artists to promote each other 's respective album before the collaboration was officially released . She added " So she has a lot of songs in rotation and I want to let her stuff have a moment and do its thing , dominate radio . Instead , I wanted to come out with something more fun . " A preview of the video was previewed first time at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show . The preview consisted of Minaj and Rihanna in a foggy area , with Minaj having a pixie cut and Rihanna having long hair , seemingly switching hairstyles . The full " Fly " music video premiered on mtv.com and Minaj 's VEVO after the preview on VMA 's Pre-Show on August 28 , 2011
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
Fly (Nicki Minaj song)