After a two-month pre-production period lasting from November to December 1966, filming for the pilot episode, "The Mysterons", began on 2 January 1967,[40] with a budget of £1.5 million for the 32-episode series.[34][41] At an average cost of £46,000 per episode, or £2,000 per minute, it was the most expensive Anderson production to date.[42] A month before, Anderson and his team had dropped the name "AP Films," since Arthur Provis was no longer working alongside Anderson on a full-time basis, and renamed their company "Century 21 Productions".[40] Many of the directors for earlier Anderson series, such as Alan Pattillo, David Elliott and David Lane, had either left AP Films or were involved in the production of Thunderbird 6, the second Thunderbirds feature film, at the time that Captain Scarlet was being produced.