The writers considered showing spreading the construction of the Blackbird over several episodes as a running subplot. Moore admitted that, realistically, building a starfighter would likely take weeks. However, they decided to tell the whole story in one episode as part of the theme of the fleet's morale, introduced by a comment from Commander Adama early in "Flight of the Phoenix". They also considered it unrealistic that Tyrol would be able to build a Viper, so they came up with another craft, the Blackbird stealth fighter.