<P> The idea for the film came when Emmerich and Devlin were in Europe promoting their film Stargate . A reporter asked Emmerich why he made a film with content like Stargate if he did not believe in aliens . Emmerich stated he was still fascinated by the idea of an alien arrival, and further explained his response by asking the reporter to imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and to discover 15 mile - wide spaceships were hovering over the world's largest cities . Emmerich then turned to Devlin and said, "I think I have an idea for our next film ." </P> <P> Emmerich and Devlin decided to expand on the idea by incorporating a large - scale attack, with Devlin saying he was bothered by the fact that "for the most part, in alien invasion movies, they come down to Earth and they're hidden in some back field...(o) r they arrive in little spores and inject themselves into the back of someone's head ." Emmerich agreed by asking Devlin if arriving from across the galaxy, "would you hide on a farm or would you make a big entrance?" The two wrote the script during a month - long vacation in Mexico, and just one day after they sent it out for consideration, 20th Century Fox chairman Peter Chernin greenlit the screenplay . Pre-production began just three days later in February 1995 . The U.S. military originally intended to provide personnel, vehicles, and costumes for the film; however, they backed out when the producers refused to remove the script's Area 51 references . </P> <P> A then - record 3,000 - plus special effects shots would ultimately be required for the film . The shoot utilized on - set, in - camera special effects more often than computer - generated effects in an effort to save money and get more authentic pyrotechnic results . Many of these shots were accomplished at Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, California, where the film's art department, motion control photography teams, pyrotechnics team, and model shop were headquartered . The production's model - making department built more than twice as many miniatures for the production than had ever been built for any film before by creating miniatures for buildings, city streets, aircraft, landmarks, and monuments . The crew also built miniatures for several of the spaceships featured in the film, including a 30 - foot (9.1 m) destroyer model and a version of the mother ship spanning 12 feet (3.7 m). City streets were recreated, then tilted upright beneath a high - speed camera mounted on a scaffolding filming downwards . An explosion would be ignited below the model, and flames would rise towards the camera, engulfing the tilted model and creating the rolling "wall of destruction" look seen in the film . A model of the White House was also created, covering 10 feet (3.0 m) by 5 feet (1.5 m), and was used in forced - perspective shots before being destroyed in a similar fashion for its destruction scene . The detonation took a week to plan and required 40 explosive charges . </P> <P> The film's aliens were designed by production designer Patrick Tatopoulos . The actual aliens in the film are diminutive and based on a design Tatopoulos drew when tasked by Emmerich to create an alien that was "both familiar and completely original". These creatures wear "bio-mechanical" suits that are based on another design Tatopoulos pitched to Emmerich . These suits were 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, equipped with 25 tentacles, and purposely designed to show it could not sustain a person inside so it would not appear to be a "man in a suit". </P>

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