Many of the scenes leading up to the battle with the White Walker army were filmed in Iceland, but the majority of the episode 's battle sequence was filmed in a quarry in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Taylor had expected to film the sequence entirely in Iceland, but quickly realized that it was not feasible due to the amount of production that was required. In filming the wight polar bear attack, Taylor noted that the bear was designed by the New Zealand - based Weta Workshop, which previously worked on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Richard Dormer, who portrays Beric Dondarrion, described filming the scene in a separate interview, saying "It was very cold, wet and physical. Hot as well, running around imagining a 12 - foot flaming polar bear. It 's pretty weird, but it was fun. '' Dormer also noted the difficulty of filming a flaming sword, revealing that the sword could only burn for two minutes at a time, and could not be swung too quickly, requiring Dormer to slow down his movement. He also said that the sword he was using weighed approximately three times more than a normal sword. Though the actors were dressed warmly for the scenes beyond the Wall, their suits contained a "tube system through which cold water can be circulated between shots using a portable pump to keep them from getting overheated, '' due to the actual warmth of filming on a fake set in Northern Ireland. This was also essential due to the possibility of Rory McCann 's, who portrays Sandor "The Hound '' Clegane, prosthetic makeup melting off his face.
where was the episode beyond the wall filmed
Iceland Iceland quarry in Belfast, Northern Ireland