Writing and filming "Finale" was written by series developer and showrunner
Greg Daniels, making it his second writing credit for the year, after the season debut "
New Guys", and his 12th writing credit overall. Daniels joked that Kwapis was "the country vet who birthed this puppy" and had come "back to put it down". Prior to directing "Finale", he also directed the
fifth season episode "
Company Picnic". The initial idea for the finale was thought of by Daniels during production of the
third season, described as "a reunion show", in the fashion of the reality show cast discussions common on reality shows like
Survivor. Daniels, at one point, approached
Jeff Probst, the host of
Survivor, to appear in the finale as a moderator for the fictional reunion, although he declined. Filming commenced on March 6. According to
Jenna Fischer, the episode took nine days to film, with the cast devoting 12 hours a day to the episode. The finale was described as "ambitious", featuring multiple location shoots, including one in an
AT&T Office Building, which stood in for the
Scranton Cultural Center. Wilson later tweeted a picture of the empty set after filming had completed. Originally, the episode was supposed to be the 23rd and 24th episodes of the season, which would have meant that the series aired exactly 200 episodes. However, the series' penultimate episode was elongated into 2 separate episodes, resulting in "Finale" being the 24th and 25th episodes of the season. This meant that the last part of "Finale" is the series' 201st episode. Once filming finished, Daniels, in an interview with
TVLine, expressed his hope to expand the episode, stating, "I was very excited with the footage we got ... It's very big. I'm going to beg NBC to super-size it or extend it." Daniels later commented that when the editors cut together the first act, it was 23 minutes long; this is much longer than a normal first act for an hour long episode of television. By May 2, the petition had received over 20,000 signatures. The episode is approximately 52 minutes in length.
Casting returned for "Finale" as
Michael Scott following months of speculation and anticipation regarding his appearance. The series finale guest stars
Rachael Harris,
Dakota Johnson,
Joan Cusack,
Ed Begley Jr., and
Malcolm Barrett. The episode features the return of several of the series' actors and actresses, including former series writers and stars
B. J. Novak and
Mindy Kaling, as well as
Andy Buckley,
Robert R. Shafer,
Michael Schur, and
Matt Jones. The episode also features
Bill Hader and
Seth Meyers playing themselves. Producer and writer Graham Wagner also makes a cameo in both Mose's group, as well as at the wedding. Early during production for the season, Kinsey and Wilson noted in an interview that the cast and crew were hoping for the return of former lead actor Carell. In mid-December, Krasinski later revealed that he was optimistic about a return; in an interview with
E! Online Krasinski said that the producers were supposedly "still trying to figure out [Carell's] schedule" and that the finale "just wouldn't be the same without him". However, NBC chairman
Robert Greenblatt later admitted during an interview that while he was "hopeful", he did not think Carell would return; he noted that Carell was satisfied with his character's exit and did not want to tarnish it. On January 16, Daniels revealed that Carell would not appear in the finale in any capacity, Several months later, however,
TVLine reported that the producers for
The Office mounted "an 11th hour effort" to get Carell to make a cameo in the show's final episode.
TVLine later reported on May 6 that Carell would appear in a cameo, although NBC declined to comment and Carell's representatives continued to deny the reports. A month after the episode aired, Carell explained in an interview with
TVLine that he "lied for months to the press, to almost everyone, really". At the initial table read for the script, Carell's appearance was not revealed; his first line was omitted, and his second was scripted to be delivered by
Creed Bratton. The episode originally was scripted to begin with a different cold open; it would have entailed a prank on Dwight by Jim, in which Dwight is led to believe that he is actually living in the Matrix, a computer-simulation from the
eponymous 1999 film of the same name. The scene was cut from the episode and not included with the other deleted scenes, but it was shared via Facebook by
Peacock TV on January 1, 2021. A table read of it—along with the rest of the episode—was included as a bonus feature on the ninth season DVD. == Cultural references ==