Unlike most Hollywood attempts, the computer hacking scenes in the USA Network techno-thriller “Mr. Robot” are both cinematic and realistic-looking. But they aren’t so easy to shoot.

On the show’s set in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in early July, a scene’s makeshift Wi-Fi antenna kept falling over, the screen of a prop cellphone wouldn’t stay lit and, in one fraught moment, a new laptop slid out of its box and crashed to the floor.

“I hope you bought the warranty,” the show’s star, Rami Malek, clad in the signature black sweatshirt of his character, Elliot Alderson, told a producer.

Mr. Malek swore, exasperated. “I thought I was supposed to be good at this tech stuff!”

Such moments underscore the sweat equity that goes into rendering the taut, remarkably assured world of the series, which was created by Sam Esmail and returns for its second season on Wednesday, July 13.