 Since getting permits and arranging the sequence was proving to be  tough, some of the footage during Tony Wengs assassination scene  was shot under the pretense that Woo was doing a documentary about  the annual Dragon Boat race, an important event in Hong Kong. Woo  shot the bulk of the footage five months before (even before a cast  and crew had been finalized) and brought in a small crew later to  fill in the gaps. Putting together the scene was very hard for the  editor, especially as Woo didnt use any storyboards. Eventually, he  ended up editing the scene himself, which took three weeks. Woo, who  is a huge fan of musicals, tried to think of the sequence as a  musical numbers or dance sequences, going so far as to edit it in  time to the soundtrack.