Threat Level Midnight

"Threat Level Midnight"
The Office episode
The poster for Threat Level Midnight. Michael Gallenberg, the series' production designer created the poster on his own time without being asked.[1]
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 17
Directed by	Tucker Gates
Written by	B. J. Novak
Featured music	"Running on Ice" by Billy Joel "Pressure" by Billy Joel
Cinematography by	Matt Sohn
Editing by	David Rogers Claire Scanlon
Production code	7016[2]
Original air date	February 17, 2011 (2011-02-17)
Guest appearances
David Denman as Roy Anderson Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson Rashida Jones as Karen Filippelli David Koechner as Todd Packer Linda Purl as Helene Beesly Mike Bruner as Tony Gardner Noel Petok as Troy Underbridge
Episode chronology
← Previous "PDA" Next → "Todd Packer"
The Office (American season 7)
List of episodes

"Threat Level Midnight" is the seventeenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 143rd episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on February 17, 2011. The episode was written by B. J. Novak and directed by Tucker Gates.

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) screens his action film Threat Level Midnight to the office after ten years of writing, shooting, re-shooting, and editing. This film features Michael as Agent Michael Scarn, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) as Scarn's robot butler, and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) as Scarn's archnemesis "Goldenface".

The episode's genesis stems from the second season entry "The Client", in which the office discovers Michael's incomplete film screenplay. "Threat Level Midnight" features the reappearance of several actors and actresses who had not appeared on the show in years. It also marks the final appearance for Rashida Jones (Karen Filippelli). Due to the nature of Michael's film, scenes were filmed to create the illusion that they had been shot years prior to the episode. "Threat Level Midnight" was viewed by 6.41 million viewers and received a 3.3 rating among adults between the age of 18 and 49. The episode was the highest-rated NBC series of the week that it aired, and received acclaim from critics, many of whom enjoyed the humor and the continuity references to the show's past. In December 2019, the entire film (25 minutes with no episode clips) was released on The Office's YouTube channel.