"Burn After Reading" was the first Coen brothers film not to use Roger Deakins as cinematographer since "Miller's Crossing". Emmanuel Lubezki, four-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer of "Sleepy Hollow" and "Children of Men", took over for Deakins, who had already committed to shooting Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road". Mary Zophres served as costume designer, marking her eighth consecutive movie with the Coen brothers. Carter Burwell, a composer who worked with the Coens in 11 previous films, created the score. Early in the production, Burwell and the Coens decided that the score should be emphatically percussive to match the deluded self-importance of the characters, and they noted the all-drum score for the political thriller "Seven Days in May." Joel Coen wanted the score to be "big and bombastic... important sounding but absolutely meaningless." Burwell wrote that a percussive score would help "avoid any emotional comment" and "would lend an air of sobriety, gravity, and bombast to the general silliness". The "Burn" score ultimately made frequent use of Japanese Taiko drums.