Born Again (The X-Files) - Production

Production

"I thought the direction was a little sloppy, but it's one of those episodes that plays a little closer to reality and I like that about it, There's a nice twist in it about a man marrying the wife of another man he had killed. There were actually some nice effects. Just not one of my favourites."

Writer Howard Gordon was disappointed with the episode, finding it too similar to other series being aired around the same time. He also believed that the episode seemed "a little too cop show-y" overall, stating that he did not think it "was very well executed on any front". David Duchovny also reportedly "detested" the episode, despite a guest appearance by his then-girlfriend Maggie Wheeler.

Executive producer R. W. Goodwin recalls being on location for the episode's opening scene, in which Detective Barbala is thrown from a window. The room used for the scene had two windows side-by-side, and one had been replaced with sugar glass for the stunt. When the false window was blown out to simulate someone being thrown through it, the crew found that the glass window beside the false one had also accidentally been blown out. The episode's key grip, Al Campbell, suggested that the next shot show Barbala's dog lying beside his body to explain the second window breaking.