While preparing for the shoot, director Miguel Sapochnik tried to find a longer battle sequence in cinema and couldn't. While writing the episode, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff intended it to be the longest battle sequence ever presented in a film or television. The closest Sapochnik found was the 40-minute Battle of Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), which he studied to determine when and if the audience would get "battle fatigue" from too much meaningless action. Ironically, his conclusion was that "the less fighting you can have in a [specific] sequence, the better." See more

Goofs

Many of the tactics used during the battle make absolutely no sense, like the cavalry blindly charging into the lines of the undead, the trebuchets placed in front of the army or the army being deployed outside the walls of Winterfell rather than on the walls. This could be seen not as a plot hole but simply chalked up to the heroes' stupidity and incompetence, except that the battle plan was prepared by the likes of: Daenerys with Jorah Mormont and Grey Worm (who waged a very successful military campaign in Essos); Jon Snow (veteran of several battles and former leader of the Night's Watch); Tyrion and Varys (who successfully defended King's Landing against Stannis); Jaime Lannister (experienced military leader); Yohn Royce (experienced military leader); Davos Seaworth (who, while not a military man himself, has been the second in command of an expert general like Stannis for years). It defies belief that supposedly intelligent and competent people could prepare a plan so nonsensical for the crucial battle of their lifetime. See more