Office star reveals Jim’s gas station proposal to Pam cost $250,000—the most expensive scene of entire show

Actress Jenna Fischer of NBC's The Office revealed that Jim's proposal to her character Pam cost $250,000 in post-production and production fees.

It was therefore the "single-most expensive scene ever shot" for the show.

Pam and Jim (played by John Krasinski) began their relationship as co-workers at the finest paper and office supply sales company - Dunder Mifflin - before they became a couple.

In the fifth season, Pam was away in New York City for three months for a design class. Jim then asks Pam to meet him at a gas station for lunch, which ends in a marriage proposal.

On Wednesday, the Office Ladies podcast, a podcast Fischer cohosts with former Office costar Angela Kinsey (who played Angela), talked about adorable cats at Pratt University that "wander the lecture halls and campus freely" and the iconic gas station proposal.

Greg Daniels, the show's creator, based the gas station after a Connecticut rest stop that he visited as a child.

The sitcom's production team re-created the East Coast rest stop in a large parking lot in Los Angeles, California. Fischer also said that the crew used Google Street View to "capture images of a real gas station".

It took nine days to put the set together.

Despite the proposal scene being less than two minutes in the episode, the scene paid attention to detail, which is probably one reason why it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce.

Fischer also broke down some of the details into how they captured the scene.

"To create the illusion of highway traffic, they built a four-lane circular race track around the gas station set," she said. “They set up cameras on the other side of this raceway, and they had cars drive around it at 55 miles an hour."

That's pretty epic.

She also stated that the cars that appear to be passing by around her and Krasinski when they were shooting the proposal weren't standard—they were huge semi-trucks. "Giant rain machines" to give the illusion of a rainy day.

Fischer also said that when they were done wrapping up the scene, a special effects company was hired to "paint out the background" of the Los Angeles set ( which is mountainous) and add "trees" similar to the East Coast.

The proposal also takes place at a gas station because Daniels wanted Jim's proposal to be in an everyday location.

Further reflecting on filming the gas station proposal, Fischer noted that it was "really romantic".

On the other hand, Kinsey told the story of the proposal in a less than romantic light. She said that the parking lot where they filmed the scene was actually "an old ceramics plant" that "buried lead paint waste into the ground" to be sealed and covered.

Well, at least Pam and Jim have a sweet ending.

In The Office finale, the couple has been married for a while and have two children together.

Check out the clip of Jim proposing to Pam below.