The episode was based on actual recent research and involved much collaboration among the series ' different departments . For the scene in which they remove the victim 's eyeball , the special effects crew created a mold based on actress Elizabeth Stanley 's head . Using plaster to make a prosthetic , they " drilled out the eyeball and sculpt [ ed ] it open and [ went ] through a series of molds . " Stanley stated that " it 's really cool to see the head because it really does look just like me , even though it 's very gruesome because the eyeball 's popping out . " The prop department rigged a weapon which they called a " photon gun " ; according to prop master Peter Gelfman , this gun was based on real devices employed in airport security that look through people 's clothing for concealed weapons . VFX Supervisor Christopher Scollard explained that for the eye 's last vision , they used " a lot of actual photographic reference on the set and on the location , " which they then used to " take that imagery and composite it into the various computer monitors and displays in the lab . "