As it hinged on filming a real Goodyear Blimp at a real Super Bowl, many challenges existed. Luckily, Frankenheimer had a good relationship with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company head Robert Lane, as a result of working with Goodyear on his earlier film Grand Prix.Pomerance and Palmer 2011, p. 106. Lane told Frankenheimer, "You're the only person I've ever worked with who has kept his word."Frankenheimer Rides a Blimp To a Big, Fat Comeback 1977/04/10 nytimes.com Frankenheimer told Goodyear that if they declined the use of their blimps, he would rent the only other large blimp in the world from Germany, paint it silver, and people would assume it was theirs anyway. Lane granted Frankenheimer use of Goodyear's blimps on three conditions: the film had to make clear that the villainous pilot did not work directly for Goodyear, but for a contractor; the final explosion could not come out of the word Goodyear on the blimp's side; and the blimp itself could not be part of any violence, for example nobody was to be churned up in its propellers.
