The Office: A Peek Behind The Scenes

Background Cast Members Were Behaving Like Real Employees

For the first season, The Office was filmed in an actual office building in Culver City, California, so unlike many prop computers on the sets of television shows, all the computers in the Dunder Mifflin offices had working internet. The actors in the background of the shot who were “doing work” were often surfing the web or checking their emails on the computers.

Considering how often employees at the Dunder Mifflin offices seem to waste time during the day, the background actors messing around on computers may have actually made the show feel even more realistic. It certainly helped pass the time.