Composer Marc Streitenfeld had the orchestra play his compositions backwards, and then digitally reversed the compositions for the final film. This made the music sound unusual and unsettling, which he felt was right for the film.
For the alien planet, creatures and technology, director Sir Ridley Scott instructed the design team to aim for a look that could logically come before the original एलियन (1979), and thus not to rely too heavily on Swiss artist H.R. Giger's famous original planet and Xenomorph designs. However, almost all of the team's drawings eventually contained subconscious "Gigeresque" embellishments, while also drawing inspiration from several unused Giger designs for Alien. In the end, it was decided to invite Giger himself to come over, who approved of the use of his old ideas and gave additional input on reverse-engineering his original designs for the new film. Further inspiration was drawn from the works of Russian 3D artist Gutalin (Alex Kozhanov). Giger died of fall-related injuries in 2014, making this the last movie related to the Alien franchise that he worked on.
Sir Ridley Scott named the film "Prometheus", seeing the name aptly fit the film's themes: "It's the story of creation; the gods and the man who stood against them." In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus was an immortal servant of the gods, who stole and gave to mankind the gift of God fire, an immeasurable benefit that changed the human race forever (for better and worse). It made mankind dangerous to the gods.
Both the "Beginning of time" sequence that opens the film and the crash sequence near the end were shot in Iceland over two weeks, after both Wadi Rum (Jordan) and Morocco were deemed too politically unstable at the time. Iceland's volcanic Hekla valley was used as the surface of planet LV-223, with rocks placed in the landscape and computer-generated images (CGI) to provide the planet's otherworldly backdrop. The Engineer's sacrifice in the opening scene was filmed at Dettifos Falls, a location so remote and hard to reach that the crew had to construct roads to get there.
To prepare for his role as the android David, Michael Fassbender watched ब्लेड रनर (1982) (another Sir Ridley Scott film), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) (for David Bowie's androgynous performance), The Servant (1963) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (mentioned by Peter Weyland). Fassbender also studied Olympic diver Greg Louganis, drawing inspiration for David's walk from Louganis' physicality.