They initially offered the male lead to Kiefer Sutherland before James Spader accepted the role three days before filming began.
The episode received generally positive reviews, with several critics praising James Spader's portrayal of Raymond Reddington.
Reddington briefly escapes custody to meet with Zamani, revealing that unbeknownst to the FBI, he masterminded the ploy, as well as the attack on Tom.
Returning to the FBI, Reddington offers to provide information on a number of the world's dangerous criminals, his "blacklist", in order to commute sentence and work with Keen.
NBC bought the rights to The Blacklist from Sony Pictures Television in August 2012[2] and greenlighted the show in January 2013.
[4] After showing a screening of "Pilot" at Comic-Con, producers revealed that their inspiration for The Blacklist came from the capture of Whitey Bulger.
[5] Recalling the experience in an interview with Collider, executive producer John Eisendrath stated: So, the idea was, "Well, what would happen if a man like Whitey Bulger turned himself in and said, 'I am here.
It was a fortuitous turn of events, where the idea for a show was being considered, and then here comes a real life story that helped give it some shape.
[15] NBC covered all overtime costs and permit fees, as the scene involved numerous special effects, such as fire, smoke, and car collisions.
[16] The episode garnered a 3.8/10 Nielsen rating with 12.58 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in its time slot.
Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B+, calling the show "a slick action-adventure tale with knotty plotting and zeitgeisty villains".
[21] Hank Steuver of The Washington Post praised the episode for being "stylish and swiftly paced" with "intriguing plot twists", but felt that there was "not a lot of motivation to keep coming back".
[22] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette felt that the "tone change" in the episode was "a bit abrupt", but noted that "viewers who can handle the twists and turns will be intrigued".
Diane Werts of Newsday labeled Spader "TV's most voracious thespian", but felt that he was "the only one who actually [understood] the gameplay" of the series.