The Season Three finale turned out to differ significantly from the production staff's conceptual vision. Paramount did not favor the idea of a season-end cliffhanger which would have revealed the presence of shapeshifters on Earth. To continue the theme of paranoia about shapeshifters and the Dominion, "" was instead scripted to set up a hunt for a Founder aboard the "Defiant", incorporating some narrative elements at first intended to commence Season Four, while offering a more self-contained plot and using existing sets to reduce production costs.