<P> The series' creators completed the first draft of the hour - long finale in January 2004, four months prior to its airing on May 6 . Before writing the episode, David Crane, Marta Kauffman and Kevin S. Bright decided to watch the series finales of other sitcoms, paying attention to what worked and what did not . Kauffman found that they liked the ones which stayed true to the series, and they found the finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to be the gold standard . The writers had difficulty writing the finale, and spent several days thinking about the final scene without being able to write a word . Crane said that they did not want to do "something high concept, or take the show out of the show". </P> <P> The music playing as the camera pans across the empty apartment at the end of the episode is "Embryonic Journey" by Jefferson Airplane . The song "Yellow Ledbetter" by the band Pearl Jam is also featured in the episode--after Rachel boards the plane for the first time--making it the first Pearl Jam song to be licensed for a television show . A spokesperson for the group said it was, "simply a matter of the show's producers asking permission". </P> <P> The episode was filmed in Los Angeles, California on Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios, where Friends had been filmed since its second season . The first part was taped on January 16, and the second on January 23, 2004 . After the series finale, Stage 24 was renamed "The Friends Stage". </P> <P> A month before the filming of the final episode, Aniston said that with each episode it got "harder just to read the lines ." She explained that the cast was "all just nerves and raw emotions (...) No one knows how to feel . We may need to be sedated on the last night ." The producers promised a tearful ending, and the cast admitted their crying was not faked when they filmed their scenes . LeBlanc revealed it had been too much for him and the rest of the cast; he said Kudrow started crying first, and when he looked at Aniston and Cox they also appeared emotional . Schwimmer, who LeBlanc thought was the "consummate professional", was also upset, so LeBlanc "just lost it ." Maggie Wheeler, who was Chandler's "on and off" girlfriend Janice, told People, "the entire cast had to go back and have their makeup redone before starting," and that Perry broke the tension by saying, "Somebody is gonna get fired ." Perry told the New York Daily News that he did not cry, "but I felt like I was about to for like seven hours ." </P>

When was the last episode of friends shot