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  Danny insisted that changes were made to his role."I rewrote the dialogue a little, fleshed out his character and the filming took place over eight days in continuity, following the script which allowed him to build a real role." With the casting completed Besson could starting filming his masterpiece. Besson, who works as his own camera man, began shooting exteriors on location throughout New York City, on June 1st, 1993. He recalls that "Aesthetically fascinating, New York is hard to film. You have to break up lines and heights. Since I chose to shoot in scope and found myself facing a totally a vertically mass, it quickly became a real headache."    "Everything is to big and enormous. You have trouble coming to terms with volumes; you have to choose main arteries that offer openings: avenues leading to a bridge, perspectives shot from upstairs in buildings, otherwise you never see the sky." The elements also proved to be a problem during filming "Something not particularly indigenous to New York, we had to put up with 100 degree weather all summer. We shot mainly in Spanish Harlem, then in Chinatown and in amazing places like Wall Street. Strangely enough, I felt the safest while filming in Spanish Harlem. True, most everyone is armed (there’s an armed security guard in every taxi cab) but it’s like a Mafia - the rules are clear. Plus, most of the people there are Latinos, like us: Italians, Puerto Ricans, Latin Americans. I felt close to them. We showed no aggressiveness, and played the game honestly."   "Everything went smoothly. People took us into their families to shoot parts of scenes. They fed us, helped us. We talked with others in the streets and paid them for odd jobs. I really liked the extravagant, colourful side of it. Of course, it was dangerous, but much less so than in those impersonal main arteries where misery is such that a killing frenzy can break out at any minute." While shooting in Spanish Harlem, Natalie needed to take a shower to clean off some fake dirt and blood. One of the PA's, who was a local kid, took her to his apartment. "It was this little one-bedroom and a whole big family was living there," says Natalie. "They let me shower and they cooked us dinner. They were great." 
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