You Only Live Twice (film) declined the offer to direct, but accepted after producer Albert R. Broccoli called him saying: "You can't give up this job. It's the largest audience in the world." Peter R. Hunt, who edited the first five Bond films, believed that Gilbert had been contracted by the producers for other work but they found they had to use him. Gilbert, producers Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, production designer Ken Adam and director of photography Freddie Young then went to Japan, spending three weeks searching for locations. SPECTRE's shore fortress headquarters was changed to an extinct volcano after the team learned that the
You Only Live Twice (film) is detained while Bird One is launched; Bond is taken into the control room where he meets Blofeld face-to-face for the first time. Bird One closes in on the American space capsule, and United States forces prepare to launch a nuclear attack on the USSR. Meanwhile, the Japanese ninjas approach the base's entrance, but are detected and fired upon. Bond manages to open the hatch, letting in the ninjas. During the ensuing battle, Bond fights his way to the control room, kills Blofeld's bodyguard Hans by flipping his body into the piranha pool, and activates Bird One's self-destruct before it