Empty Orchestra start singing. The music was pumped up and we had a mini party, with mad dancing – that was a memorable scene to film." The filming introduced a number of technical challenges, with the producer Adam Tandy explaining that the simultaneous singing and conversing made production particularly difficult: "To record it all 'clean' and have options in the edit, that was technically hard on everybody." Typically, karaoke scenes in television will see characters sing only the opening lines, but because of the format of "Inside No. 9", the characters in "Empty Orchestra" sing the whole song. Each character sang a
Empty Orchestra tells them that they are both fired. Fran sings with Chantel, Roger dances with the young woman, and Greg and Connie argue. Duane and Janet meet eyes, and Duane places her hand on his chest; she feels his heartbeat as the two kiss. "Empty Orchestra" follows a relatively simple narrative of co-workers on a night out, telling several interweaved stories through body language, muffled conversations and relevant song lyrics. Phil Harrison, writing for "The Guardian", characterised the episode as "a study in communication breakdown; how people use booze, loud music and enforced jollity to fill the gaps between them". Possibilities