Jeff Kleiser explained that Randal had been inspired by commercial work that he had done at his previous company, Digital Effects: "Jean Miller and Bob Hoffman had written a reflection mapping software that simulated a drop of water dripping from a faucet, which had refraction and reflection on the spout and it drips off. Randal saw that: ‘Wow. Could you make the spaceship reflective, like reflecting the environment?’" The morphing effect was based on by work Digital Effects had done on a 1985 Tide detergent commercial.
