Meanwhile, stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni and his stuntmen were busy staging part of the snowmobile chase on the adjoining frozen lake, with the remainder of the sequence having to be shot in Breckenridge, Colorado, and Lake Tahoe, California, due to a lack of snow in Denver. As in the first Die Hard, Willis did his own stunt work whenever possible.

The company then headed for Moses Lake, Washington, to a runway used by Japan Airlines as a 747 test site. Scenes were shot in a hanger so large that it could comfortably accommodate the entire 747, numerous transport planes and trucks, and the production company's wide array of equipment. But, as the shooting shifted to the runway, the company was again at the mercy of the weather. Temperatures rose, rain fell, but the production company still managed to accomplish one of the most exciting stunts, which had McClane leaping from a helicopter to the wing of a moving 747.

To complete the final fight sequence, the crew constructed a wing and part of the exterior of the 747 in a sound stage where air conditioning units chilled the area enough for special effects to make snow. It was difficult to tell reality from fantasy as one stepped onto a soundstage filed with snow and the crew dressed in winter gear to survive the frigid temperatures. Principal photography was finally completed in April of 1990.