On Monday, October 19, 1987, stock markets around the globe suddenly crashed, resulting in the largest one-day percentage drop in Dow Jones Industrial Average history. That day, known as Black Monday, has been blamed on everything from computerized trading to the declining dollar, but there’s never been a consensus on what caused the crash. Even so, the new Showtime series Black Monday, from creators David Caspe and Jordan Cahan, goes back to 1986 as Wall Street careens towards the crash and attempts to tell the story of what—or who—led to the near financial crisis.

The show follows the traders of the Jammer Group, a firm of Wall Street outsiders lead by Maurice “Mo” Monroe (Don Cheadle), who's got a taste for stretch Lamborghini limos and lots of cocaine. To re-create the garish, wealthy world of Wall Street in the 1980s, Chris L. Spellman, who designed the pilot episode, and Alec Contestabile, who art-directed the pilot and took over as production designer once the show went to series, started by doing their homework. They filled a bookshelf and a half with research materials, including as many Architectural Digests from 1978 to the mid-'80s as they could find online. They also looked at movies from the era, such as Wall Street, Trading Places, Working Girl, and even Ghostbusters. Films like these helped inspire the crowded, dirty atmosphere of late-'80s New York and also became the source of a few Easter eggs in the sets: bullpen carpet, which is the same as the office in Ghost; the appearance of FCOJ—the stock symbol for frozen concentrated orange juice and a reference to Trading Places—on the trading floor’s big stock board. “We were trying to have fun with the set as much as possible," Contestabile says, "while still keeping the period correct and adding a lot of texture that makes these places feel real."

When it came to the homes of Mo and his associate Dawn Darcy (Regina Hall), the designers captured the decadence of the era and created spaces that allow the characters to show off their success. For Mo’s hotel suite, they were inspired by the 1982 book Contemporary Apartments, published by, again, Architectural Digest. “The idea was that it was something like the Plaza Hotel, and the penthouse had been remodeled in the ‘70s or early ‘80s,” Contestabile says. They used circular motifs throughout the space, including Chinese moon gates in the living room and bathroom. Creams, warm browns, and gold added to the luxurious atmosphere.