One of the most impressive moments in the film comes near the end, when Nicolas Cage and the rest of the prisoners crash the plane into a hotel on the Las Vegas strip. You might think that a big-scale action sequence like that would be done on a set, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
In actuality, the hotel they crash the plane into was a real hotel in Las Vegas. The historic Sands Hotel and Casino was already set to be demolished, so the filmmakers were able to crash a real plane right into its front lobby. According to director Simon West, this scene was quite the feat to shoot. He told Metro that there were 200 stunt performers in that one scene and 17 cameras set up to get the shot because they could only do it once. The first day they tried it, the plane stalled, so they had to try again the next day. West estimates that there were around 10,000 or 15,000 watching the stunt, so the pressure was on.
While there were quite a few people in on the secret, not everyone in Vegas knew what was going on. In fact, the Las Vegas Sun reported that several residents called the police when they saw a plane flying in circles around the Las Vegas strip. For a short while, (prior to its demolition), the crash site was actually a tourist destination, producer Jerry Bruckheimer told Variety.
