Lady Gaga seemed to fly seamlessly from the top of NRG Stadium in Houston to a platform below during her stunning Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.

But it turns out the drop from the top of NRG was actually a prerecorded stunt. USA Today spoke to two top people at Intel Drones – which provided the drones in the sky behind Gaga that displayed the US flag and the Pepsi logo – who confirmed that her stunt was done in advance.

The Intel sources said the opening jump was filmed ahead of time because of “weather and environment” issues. Basically, if it had rained during the Super Bowl, the roof of the stadium where Gaga was standing would have been closed. While the drones still could have operated, Gaga couldn’t have flown down from a closed stadium roof.

But Gaga did drop from the top of NRG Stadium in the prerecorded bit and didn’t use a stunt double, so we can still be impressed.

Clever editing made it appear both at home and on the jumbotrons at the stadium that Gaga’s drop from the top of the stadium led directly into her flight on cables in the middle of the stadium. But in fact on Super Bowl night, Gaga started from a lower point, as you can see in this video from TMZ and another video from inside the stadium below.

lady gaga stadium stunt

Foto: Lady Gaga actually started her live flying at the Super Bowl from a lower point in the stadium, as seen here. Her drop from the top was pre-recorded. source TMZ

You can see the full Lady Gaga halftime performance below: