[1] Guest stars including William Devane as President Henry Hayes and James McDaniel as General Francis Maynard returned, having first appeared in previous lead-in episode "Inauguration".

Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), who years before was nearly killed by the overwhelming amount of knowledge after accidentally using an identical device, decides he should be the one to use it, in the hope it will help them defend Earth.

In Washington, D.C., new President Henry Hayes (William Devane) calls upon Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Jessica Steen), an expert in international politics, to replace General Hammond (Don S. Davis) for a three-month review.

Kinsey believes this to be a ploy to keep the SGC running, but Weir hears out SG-1's proposal to find the Lost City of the Ancients, and with it the means to defend Earth.

Unable to make a Stargate connection to Praclarush Taonas, Sam (Amanda Tapping) instead plots the planet's location and SG-1 sets off in a Goa'uld cargo ship along with Bra'tac and a young Jaffa pilot named Ronan.

SG-1's cargo ship arrives above Antarctica and starts drilling; it is protected from a group of death gliders and Al'kesh by the Prometheus, commanded by General Hammond, and its complement of F-302 fighter craft.

[3][4] In June 2002, Wright revealed that they had submitted their first draft of the script and that the feature film would bridge the end of SG-1 and a new spinoff series called Stargate Atlantis.

[5] Later that year, Richard Dean Anderson noted that MGM had instead decided to pursue a sixth season of SG-1, with the hope that it would raise both the interest and capital to produce the feature film.

[6] As well as setting up the Atlantis spinoff, Cooper wanted the feature to conclude SG-1, completing their search for the Lost City of the Ancients, which had been introduced the season prior, as well as wrapping up the Anubis arc and revealing the Stargate program to the public.

[7] There were originally discussions as to whether the season finale might be presented as a complete two-hour piece, or a television movie, although ultimately Sci Fi decided to split the story into two parts.

[1] There was also originally a greater emphasis on SG-1's search for a ship which could take them to the Ancient Outpost planet, giving the character Jaffa double agent, Ronan a significant role.

[1] The original film also featured a huge action sequence involving Anubis' forces attacking and destroying the United States Seventh Fleet, which was reduced to just a phone call in the final script.

[1] After completing the script, Cooper and Wright decided that in order to put as much money and time into the episode as they could, there would be a clip show prior to "Lost City".

Entitled "Inauguration", Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie put together the teleplay, recapping the event that lead to "Lost City", as well as introducing William Devane's newly elected President Henry Hayes.

Having portrayed General George Hammond since the shows inception, Davis felt it was time to move on, remarking that the "story line has made this the perfect opportunity for me to go away".

Cooper had previously written the season 2 episode "The Fifth Race", where, as with the premise of "Lost City", O'Neill has the repository of the Ancients downloaded into his brain.

[1] Anderson praised the guest cast of the episode, commenting on Jessica Steen that she was "very nice and smart and snappy and I really enjoyed working with her", as well as noting the performances of Devane and Cox.

[19] Reoccurring guest stars Tony Amendola, Ronny Cox, David Palffy, Gary Jones return for the episode, as Bra'tac, Vice President Robert Kinsey, Anubis, and Walter Harriman respectively.

[24] Like much of season 7, filming took place in a particularly disjointed, out-of-sequence manner in order to accommodate Richard Dean Anderson, who was only working three days a week.

British Columbia was experiencing uncharacteristically warm weather at the time, with an increase in wildfires, so to lessen the risk, Wray Douglas' effects team sprayed over 10,000 gallons of water onto the fields, with the Maple Ridge Fire Department on location and standing-by.

This caused director Martin Wood some limitations with shooting a scene where the shows villain, Anubis, appears as a hologram to the American President in the Oval Office, before being fired upon by Secret Service agents.

[28] Stunt coordinator Dan Shea choreographed one of the key fight scenes between Tony Amendola's character Bra'tac and the Jaffa double agent Ronan, portrayed by Marc Worden.

The fight was shot from multiple camera angles simultaneously, with Dan Shea operating one of the steadicams in order to best capture the movements of the actors.

One of the scenes that was entirely cut involved President Henry Hayes (William Devane) taping his address to the American people, revealing the impending Goa'uld attack and making the Stargate program public.

[39][40][41] IGN wrote that whilst neither this episode or the series as a whole had the reputation for "presenting ground breaking science-fiction", viewers would find "an entertaining story with the usual humorous dialogue and rock steady performances that have been the show's trademark for 7 years".

The performances of the guest casting, including Ronny Cox's Vice President Kinsey were also highlighted, with the reviewer writing describing him as "a great weasel of a character that you just can't wait until you see his butt get kicked".

[42] Darren Rea for Sci-fi Online called the episode "next best thing to having a theatrically released Stargate: SG1 movie", proclaiming it had the "best visual effects battles seen so far on SG-1".

Rea also highlighted the presence of Richard Dean Anderson in the episode, commenting that his "unique sense of humour has been largely absent from this season", so welcomed him being in the entire duration of "Lost City".

[47] Snow did feel that O'Neill's ability to heal Bra'tac in part 2 felt "convenient -- one might even say contrived", as well as believing that "the threat posed to Earth by Anubis' fleet could have been more impressively depicted".

[52] In an analysis piece for PopMatters, Marco Lanzagorta wrote "in the season’s late episodes, “Heroes,” “Inauguration,” and the two-part “The Lost City,” a complex story arc concerns a nefarious Vice President (Ronny Cox), bent on using the Stargate and the war against the Goa’uld for his own financial gain".