How to break a sheet of glass quietly?
Standard EMT tool for tempered glass car windows (after taping - packing tape preferred over duct tape) is an automatic center punch. A hammer and nail will work the same, it's mostly being a one-handed tool that's easy to carry that makes the ACP the preferred tool among EMTs.

If you're "smashing the whatever" out of it, you're doing it wrong. It just takes subtle application of force to a fine point. If you get lots of long shards, it wasn't tempered, and you'd need to be careful handling the shards (movie reference and graphic explanation of the desirability of tempered glass - the non-tempered glass in "Christine")