24 is a thriller that purports to be shown in "real-time", with each minute of airtime corresponding to a minute in the lives of the characters. This real-time nature gives the show a strong sense of urgency, emphasized by the ticking of an on-screen digital clock appearing from time to time. Since it is an American commercial-television series, almost one-quarter of 24's time is spent on commercials, which break up the show, resulting in episodes which last about forty-four minutes. Elsewhere there may be no commercials at all (e.g. on BBC and on the DVD versions), or only before and after the show, so the clock that is shown sometimes 'jumps' where commercials are planned for the United States, and is thus not real-time. In the United States, action that takes place during the advertising breaks is not shown (although some episodes do not have breaks thanks to sponsorship deals). Throughout every episode the action switches between different locations, following the parallel adventures of different characters all involved in the same story. The result is that long sections of narrative for each character are not seen, and mundane actions (such as car journeys) are either skipped just as they are in conventional drama, or briefly shown in split-screen panels above the clock upon returning from commercial breaks - these quickly update the audience on what characters not currently featured in the main narrative are doing.

The "real-time" technique is not often seen on television, yet it is not new. It dates back to at least 1949, with the film noir The Set-Up. One of the best known examples is High Noon. The similarities of the first 24 season to the 1995 real-time movie Nick of Time suggest the series was inspired by the movie's plot and technique: In Nick of Time, a man's daughter is kidnapped in order to set him up to assassinate a senator within ninety minutes. 24 also borrows its use of split-screen techniques from Timecode, a film released in 2000, to show events in two different places at once. Despite not having invented the "real-time" and split-screen techniques, the show has applied them on a scale never before seen on television, and is thus regarded as an innovative program. Much like the BBC spy series, Spooks (which, although not "real time" is slightly reminiscent of 24 and heavily dependent on split-screen technique), the use of these techniques has determined the visual and technological feel of the series.

24 has received critical and popular acclaim, and has become a true "watercooler" show. However the necessities of its format sometimes lead to lots of egregious padding and manifest absurdities. For example, traffic jams are surprisingly uncommon for a show set mostly in Southern California, which along with the fact that the main characters never seem to use the bathroom, have become popular subjects of parody and stand-up humor throughout the show's history, and call upon the audience for a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief.

The show is notable for its approach to technology, which is more accurate than many other shows, although many have found season three and season four to be less accurate than the two preceding seasons. It has shown the use of the operating system Linux multiple times, and in one season, appeared to touch on the Macintosh vs. PC debate. In fact, in season four all the terrorists used Alienware laptops. Another aspect of the show that has been praised as accurate is the depiction of interpersonal friction between the various agencies charged with American national security, even in times of severe crisis.

Despite the high-tech gadgetry, 24 is somewhat inaccurate when depicting medical emergencies. For instance, when a character is in cardiopulmonary arrest, the code usually lasts less than a minute, which is contrary to the usual several minutes that is performed by medical personnel. When Lee was brought back to CTU from the Chinese consulate (Season 4), Jack Bauer was seen giving CPR, but feebly compressing the chest. Additionaly, in one episode, a character was admitted to the intensive care unit, but was not attached to telemetry (heart monitoring), nor was breathing or oxygen saturation monitored.

At first sight, it may seem as if characters rarely eat, rest, or take bathroom breaks – and this is a common complaint made by people who haven't seen the show – but in fact, due to the sheer number of storylines, characters will usually only be seen for at most fifteen minutes per episode, so there is plenty of time for these things to happen offscreen. Furthermore, due to the plots' nature of dealing with national security emergencies, many of the characters are presumed to skip meals to in order to do more work, and several times (albeit mostly in the first two seasons) the characters are shown eating and becoming visibly fatigued and make verbal references about how long they've been awake.

In the first season, Kiefer Sutherland, who plays the main character Jack Bauer, won a Golden Globe for his performances; Surnow and Cochran (the creators of the show) won an Emmy Award. In 2004, the show won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series. 24 won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series, Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series, Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series, and Outstanding Stunt Coordination.

 In the Series Premier (12:00am - 1:00am) a main shot of the 747 exploding was removed, the show had its premier delayed a month and this scene cut as well as further storyline changes, due to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Nearly all later references to the plane explosion were also removed.

Each episode is supposed to take one hour of real time, but in actuality, three minutes are gradually added to the timer during the commercial breaks. The last three minutes of air time are used for viewing commercials, station identification, and scenes from the next episode.

Shots of a satellite in space in the first episode were taken from Enemy of the State .

At the power plant before Palmer's breakfast speech, Jack runs into old friend and Palmer staffer, Jessica Abrams. In conversation, she refers to mutual old friend Tracy Zigler, who had erroneously reported that Jack and Teri had divorced. Both characters are named after members of the production crew; Jessica Abrams is the script coordinator, and Tracy Zigler is the script supervisor.

Co-executive producer and director Stephen Hopkins, once had amnesia for eight hours where he could only remember small details of his life. This was the basis for the season 1 plot regarding the character of Teri Bauer; and Hopkins himself helped Leslie Hope (Teri) to make the acting experience, and the plotline more credible.

Dennis Haysbert was shuttling back and forth from the east coast to Los Angeles during the production of the show, because he was filming Far from Heaven  at the same time.

The character Ted Cofell is named after one of the Producers' Assistants, Anne Cofell.

In the final episode of Day 1 (11pm - 12pm), Nina Myers' laptop shows pictures of many of the production crew, including what looks like Keifer Sutherland kissing a small stuffed animal.

The character Alberta Green is named for actress Alberta Watson, whom show creator Joel Surnow originally wanted to portray the role that eventually went to Tamara Tunie. An Agent Watson was later the recipient of a phone call. Ironically, Alberta Watson later joined the show during the fourth season as Erin Driscoll, the new head of CTU in Los Angeles.

Sarah Clarke was cast as Nina Myers on the morning filming for the pilot episode was to begin. The costume department did not have time to fit her, so she wore her own outfit for the entire season.

Reiko Aylesworth originally auditioned for the role of Nina Myers.

Reiko Aylesworth also auditioned for the role of Kate Warner.

As an April Fool's joke on the crew, producer/director Jon Cassar revealed this fake ending to Day 2: Palmer's press conference ends and he goes down to his limo. He gets in successfully and rides off. After a while, we find out that someone is sitting next to him. That someone is Nina Myers. We realize that Palmer was in on the whole thing. We then shift to a scene in the desert. We close in on a parachute, then pan over to reveal George Mason, who jumped out of the plane before the bomb exploded. The end.

Season 3: In episode 7 (7:00pm - 8:00pm) where Jack is held hostage in Salazaar's plane heading to Mexico, the guard watching Jack is also watching Speed (1994) on his laptop. You can see the part where the bus drives into the hangar on it's way to the runway to crash into the Pacific Courier cargo plane.

Paul Blackthorne who plays the main villain, Saunders, originally auditioned for the role of Amador, another one of the season 3 villains. After failing the audition, his agent negotiated with the producers and managed to get the role of Saunders.

During the shoot for season 4, a special six-minute segment was shot for the US version of the season 3 DVD where Jack loses his job at CTU, an antagonist of season 4 arrives in the US, and Jack has an intimate moment with his new girlfriend. This did not appear on any of the other versions of the DVD released earlier in the summer, however it does appear on the UK and German DVD release. An extended version of this segment (as stated in the commentary by director John Cassar) is available on the UK DVD release of season 4.

Two episodes are filmed simultaneously over a period of 15 days.

In season 2, Tony Almeida's ankle injury was added to the script as actor Carlos Bernard had really injured his ankle while playing basketball during a break in filming.

Harris Yulin, who plays the reoccurring character of NSA director Roger Stanton in Season 2, is not credited at all in the opening or ending credits. All reoccurring and guest stars have to share their credits on screen with one or two other actors, but Harris Yulin wanted to appear alone on them. Because this was not possible, he decided not to be named at all.

Partway through season 2, Kiefer Sutherland injured his leg while exiting his trailer, so a small scene was written in where Jack Bauer must pull a piece of shrapnel from his leg after a plane crash to explain Sutherland's limp.

In Ep. 7, Season 1 (6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.), not only does Ira Gaines have remote access to his contact's computer inside the CTU, but apparently several "24" staff members as well: Michael Loceff

          o writer, Virgil Williams - writer, Nicole Burke

          o Second assistant director, Todd Wasserman - Production Assistant, Tony Pacheco - Production Accountant, Jason Savage - Assistant Location Manager. Also, none of the IP addresses actually exist. In every listing at least one octet is greater than 255 (IP octets range from 0-255). This ensures people looking for trivia don't actually try to remotely connect to existing IPs.

During season two shooting, Elisha Cuthbert was bitten by the mountain lion who menaced her in one of the plotlines. Before shooting the scene the animal trainer suggested she "meet" the mountain lion before shooting, when she went to pet the mountain lion it bit her hand. She was taken to the hospital, treated for puncture wounds and was given a tetanus shot.

According to series composer Sean Callery, the final picture cut of the pilot episode of Season 1 was the 24th one and was locked on 24 April 2001.

Nina Myers' fake passport shows Sarah Clarke's own married name (Sarah Berkeley), but not her birthday, which is in 1972 (the passport shows 05.05.1975).

Season 3. Whenever Jack goes into the holding facility which houses Salazar, at some point, he is picked up by security cameras. The legend on the video surveillance monitor at the guards' station shows constantly that he is being taped by camera #24.

Season 3. A Mexican airplane appears briefly during Salazar and Bauer's landing on Mexican ground. The logo on its side reads "Aeromexicana". The name is comprised of Mexico's two largest airlines "Aeromexico" and "Mexicana".

During Season 2, President Palmer takes a flight aboard Air Force One. Reportedly, the sets used were the same used for the film Air Force One (1997).

All cast members are required to have their hair trimmed every five days.

Gabriel Macht was originally offered the role of Jack's partner Chase Edmunds but the producers were so impressed by James Badge Dale's audition they offered him the role and promised Gabriel Macht a significant role in the next season.

Jack Bauer has a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Criminology and Law from UC Berkeley. Kim Bauer has an Associate's Degree in Computer Programming from Santa Monica College. President Palmer has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Economy from Georgetown University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland School of Law. Tony Almeida has a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering and Computer Science from San Diego State University and a Master's Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. Michelle Dessler has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from UC Davis. Sherry Palmer has a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Georgetown University.

Completing an entire season, including pre- and post-production work, takes ten and a half months.

In Season 3, Stephen Saunders demands that the President reveal some classified information, which would then be sent to him via a website. The website he mentioned is SylviaImports.com. This site was actually registered by Rodney Charters, the show's director of photography (and director of a couple of second season episodes). It contains the following text message: "A Big Thank-you from the crew of "24" . Thanks for watching, we love making it for you, and yes, we did get picked up for Season 4."

Kiefer Sutherland's first regular role on a television series.

The first episode featuring Harris Yulin originally aired on the same night his character on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) was killed off.

The crew tried to keep all the cameras at eye-level to add an extra level of realism.

Real-life US Marine Corps. soldiers and military aircraft where used when filming the rescue of Secretary of Defense James Heller in Season 4.

There were three endings for the season finale. In the first one, Nina does not shoot Teri. In the second one, Nina shoots her but Teri does not die. Finally, the one that was aired showed Nina shoot and kill Teri. The first ending is available as an extra on the season one DVDs.

On Day 2, near the end of hour 6AM-7AM, a montage shot shows President Palmer sitting quietly in a chair. His pose is the same as that of the Lincoln Memorial statue, and possibly foreshadows his death. Like Lincoln, Palmer also forgave the "rebels" and sought peace to help bind the nation together.

The character Ryan Chappelle was killed off during the 6:00-7:00 a.m. episode. Paul Schulze the actor who plays the role has said in interviews that his death was supposed to be faked. But the writers changed the scene around when it appeared on a spoiler website called Ryan's Report.

In Season 3, Chase Edmunds was originally planned to be killed off during Hours 10:00 A.M.-11:00 A.M. James Badge Dale revealed it to one of the staff members from the Ryan's Report website weeks before that particular episode was aired. To counter this, the writers had to re-write the story and re-shoot so that Chase wouldn't get killed, but extended the on-screen time to the final episode.

Although the writers changed their plans on Chase Edmunds's fate, they had a deleted scene planned in which Chase gets killed while he was having his hand re-attached in the hospital

Because of all the extras used in the season 2 finale, the crew had to shoot an extended scene where Palmer collapses and then stands back up to stop all of the extras going off and revealing the finale.

Error: During the gunfight in the dockyard in episode #1.24 (11pm-Midnight), a crew member wearing a protective face mask is clearly visible in shot next to Jack.

Error: In Episode #1.8 (7am-8am), when Nina Myers is in the barn, a cameraman is visible on the right.

Continuity Error: In Episode #1.13 (12:00pm - 1:00pm), when Palmer and his chief of staff are in the limo discussing how to proceed in light of Ferragamo's death, the background in the rear window suddenly changes. When Palmer is saying "Maureen Kingsley is going to get the story of her career", trees and a vehicle suddenly appear where there was only blue sky.

Continuity Error: In Day 1 1-2 AM, Jack calls CTU and says, "Nina, it's Jack." The transcript Tony looks at afterwards reads "Nina, it's me Jack."

Error: In Episode #1.18 when George Mason is asking Tony Almeida if they got anything back from forensics, you can see a camera over his left shoulder.

Error: In Episode #1.12 (11am-12pm) when Alberta Green is interrogating Tony Almeida a camera is visible on the left.

Continuity Error: In episode #2.5 (12:00pm - 1:00pm), when Tony is interrogating Reza, the Mac laptop is facing Tony with a text document visible. When he rotates the laptop so that Reza can see the monitor, the text is still there. The camera cuts to Tony, then back to Reza and the monitor. This time, however, the screen has changed to show a kind of home page-ish display. When Tony turns the laptop back to face him, the text document is back.

Error: During the first sniper shot by Gaines, just when Kimberly is standing up, a crew member can seen in the left corner of the screen, kneeling.

Continuity Error: When the chopper rescues Teri & Kim from the Gaines compound the CTU seige opperative tells Teri to drop her gun, she promptly drops the gun, but a second later its back in her hand again.

Continuity Error: In Episode #1.2 (Day 1) as Jack is driving, he approaches a red light with several cars in front of him. Then in the next helicopter shot from above, Jack is speeding down a deserted road, and never stops at a light, even though it is supposedly real time.

Continuity Error: In the beginning of an episode where Teri and Kim are held in the shed, Kim is wearing black socks and red shoes. In all other episodes she is wearing sandals.

Continuity Error: In Episode #1.15 (Day 1), the pregnancy test that Teri takes to the bathroom is a "TrueBlue", but the one that Kim finds there is a "ClearBlue".

Error: In Episode #1.13 (12:00pm - 1:00pm), when Kim, Bauer, and Teri are at the reservoir, waiting for the rescue helicopter, and no one else is supposed to be around, a crewmember in a knit cap is very visible only a few feet from Kim as she begins to walk toward the water tower.

Error: In episode #3.18, Chase is leading a strike team to Saunders' location. As he and Agent Baker make their way past the cars, the camera clearly passes by a second camera team and crew members hidden inside and outside of a truck just as they turn the corner and take cover behind another car.

Continuity Error: In the episode 9.00 Pm 10.00 Senator Palmer's assistant Patty's hair is decidedly shorter then in the previous episode.

Continuity Error: In season 2, the plane transporting Nina and Jack changes from when we see it on the ground to when we see it in mid air.

Error: In Episode 7 (6am - 7am), when Kim pushes Rick away telling him to get off of her a crew member holding some measuring device can be seen for a second in the lower right corner.

Error: In the morning, a helicopter traffic report talks about Friday traffic. Elections are held on Tuesdays.

Error: The California presidential primary election is held in March, not June.

Error: In season 2, episode 5:00 - 6:00, immediately after Kim kills Gary, she's talking to Jack through her phone, a Nokia 3650. The only problem is, she's holding it upside-down

Continuity Error: In Season 2, where Jack Bauer and Sherri Palmer are racing through LA in the black GMC Denali SUV, Jack has a heart problem and the SUV goes careening into a nearby ditch. Prior shots showed the SUV having all four GMC alloy rims. The SUV that was shown actually going into the ditch had a regular black steel rim on the front passenger side. In the very next shot (appearing in the following episode), the front right wheel returned back to a regular GMC alloy rim.

Continuity Error: In season 1, episode 4, when Alan York and Teri Bauer drive away after being pulled over, their licence plate is 4IEH746. Minutes later, when they see the ambulance, it's 4TWO520.

Continuity Error: In Season 2: Episode 13 (8:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.), Jack leaves for Norton Airfield which he says is about 30 miles away. He leaves just before 8:00 and arrives at the airfield around 8:11, requiring him to drive approximately 90 mph, which he obviously does not do.

Continuity Error: In the final chapter of season one, Kim throws hot coffee on the face of a Drazen's assassin. 10 or 15 minutes later the same guy appears again shooting Jack Bauer with no signs of burn on his face.

Continuity Error: During the car chase in the season 3 finale, Jack passes by the same cars three times.

Error: In the season 1 finale, Jack and Nina have a shootout while driving head-on with their cars. When Nina swerves and smashes into the parked car, you can see a set of two stationary cameras with a protection blanket over them.

Continuity Error: In episode #4.01, the sky is still pitch black at 7:00 a.m. However, at 7:00 a.m. the next day, episode #4.24, it is very light and the sun is clearly up. While sunrise times do vary slightly from day to day, they only vary by that much on the day clocks are changed for daylight savings time, and there is no indication given that this is that day.

Continuity Error: Episode #2.4 Jack shots the two members of the crew at the phone truck, and Eddy comes toward him in the car. Jack shots at him, and shoots out the side window as he kills him. In the next screen as Jack drives down the freeway in the same car the window is good as new.

Error: In episode #1.24, Nina and Jack are exchanging gunfire between their two cars and Nina swerves at the last minute and smashes into a parked car. The next shot shows Jack's SUV come to a screeching halt but for a second or two you can see a camera behind the car Nina hit.

Error: In Episode 3.18, Chase is leading a strike team to Saunders' location (or so they think). As he and Agent Baker make their way by the cars, the camera clearly passes by a second camera team and crew members hidden inside and outside of a truck just as they turn the corner and take cover behind another car.

Error: In season 3, episode 20, around 45 minutes in, when Jack and Chase have surrounded the building where Steven is, a guy in a white t-shirt is visible in on of the top windows of the building, walking around a few seconds before Jack takes up the megaphone to talk to Steven. Why isn't he secured?

Error: In season 1, after Nina is shot with the flak jacket on, she wanders into a deserted office to call CTU. As she enters the office, a crew member holding a camera can be seen in the right-hand corner.

Continuity Error: At the end of the season 1 episode 6:00 pm-7:00 pm there is a good amount of light given by the setting sun. However, at the beginning of the next episode, it is completely dark only seconds later.

Error: When Kevin kills Janet York, she is in ICU. Patients in intensive care are monitored constantly. Her vitals going wild would have brought hospital staff.

Error: In the episode "Day 4: 11:00 am-12:00 pm, Dina Araz muffles the sound of the gunshot she puts into Debbie's corpse from the revolver by shooting through a pillow. Revolvers cannot be suppressed in that fashion because the breech isn't completely enclosed like with a semiautomatic pistol, and would require wrapping another pillow around the gun altogether to achieve that effect.

Error: In the Season 3 finale, when Gael's wife shoots Saunders, the second bullet hole can be seen in Saunders' shirt before the second shot is fired.

Continuity Error: In Season 4, Episode 2 (8AM-9AM); when Andrew Paige is in the Subway station and Jack Bauer and the other agents are looking for him, a subway sign overhead has the track times and subway tracks listed...all of them are afternoon times starting from 3:45PM to 4:30PM

Error: In Season 1, 1-2am, When Jack and Richard are trying to leave the building in Dunlop Plaza, right after Jack reties a tourniquet with Richard's tie, crew members are visible to the right side of a door frame that they walk through. (DVD wide-screen)

Continuity Error: In episode 2.11, Marie Warner walks into the office where Reza is helping the CTU agent. She places her bag on the desk and never moves it. Later, when she gets up to leave, she picks the bag up from off the floor next to the chair that Reza is in.

Error: In season 3, Jack flies the helicopter, from the wrong seat. It's true that a helicopter can be flown from either front seat but if there is only one pilot on board, he must be in the right-hand seat. Also, at one point, his hands are on the wrong controls.

Error: From the episode "12:00pm - 1:00pm", in season 2, after extracting the encryption information from an injured Paula, the paramedics begin to transfer her to the ambulance. En route, they state that she has gone into "V-Tach". They begin the process of revival, which is a standard algorithm developed by the American Heart Association. The medic states, "full-charge, 360, clear." When there is no change, he states, "charge to 300, clear." This is the incorrect. Once you begin the defibrillation process, you always charge up. In his dialogue, he went down. 360 Joules, is the highest charge available on all portable, manual defibrillators, so he should have stayed at 360. Since is it a standard practice, even by physicians, he would/should not have been able to deviate from it.

Continuity Error: The show changed production designers after the pilot episode was filmed, resulting in a different appearance for CTU HQ in from the second hour onwards.

Continuity Error: In episode 3.22 (10:00 AM to 11:00 AM), when Michelle and Jane Saunders are being traded, Saunders' man has a gun in Michelle's back and pushes her forward. In the next shot, the gun is pressed against her neck.

Continuity Error: When Gaines shoots Dan, he aims at a slight angle so the fatal wound would be in his chest, but when he lies dead in the next episode, it's in his head.

Error: Between 6am and 7am, Jack takes Nina out of CTU. As they walk to the car you can see a crewmember standing in the parking lot for a brief second.

Error: Season 3 11:00am - 12:00pm. Scene 11 Murder-Suicide. After Julia she shoots Sherry Palmer you can clearly see a crew member's reflection in the refrigerator door.

Error: In the 4th season, a stolen F-117 Stealth Fighter is depicted as shooting down Air Force One with an air-to-air missile. The F-117 does not carry any air-to-air armament. It was only given the "F-" fighter designation as a cover up to hide its true nature from possible espionage.

Continuity Error: In Season 4, Hours 10 PM to 11 PM, when Jack shoots Nicole through the wall, as her dead body slides downward, a blood stain is visible on the wall. But as the camera follows Jack down the stairs to inspect the body, the stain is gone.

Continuity Error: In season 2, episode 24 (7:00 - 8:00 AM), when Jack's shirt is open, there are no signs of burns or cuts from his torture session just a few hours before.

Error: In Season 3, Episode 6AM - 7AM, Jack shoots Ryan Chapelle in a train yard. Just before the final clock/end credits of the episode, a pair of feet can be seen moving behind the train on the right of the screen.

Error: In Season 2, Episode 7PM - 8PM, when Kate Warner calls her sister Marie, Marie's phone displays Kate's name as it rings. However, the word "KATE" has merely been typed as a text message, as the logo in the corner of the screen gives away.

Continuity Error: In the episode "Day 4: 10 PM-11 PM", Keeler says Air Force One has four fighter escorts, but Chloe's radar screen back at CTU shows five.

Errors in geography: In Season 4, the terrorists attack a military convoy in "the mountains of Iowa". There are no mountains in Iowa.

Continuity Error: In Day 4 between 7pm and 8pm Tony says the licence plate number, but he reads out the wrong number.

Continuity Error: In Season 4, Episode 5AM-6AM, about at 6:05, Mandy sends a picture of Tony to Michelle's cellphone, however, her phone says the picture was received at 2:36AM.

Continuity Error: In the first episode of the fourth season, Audrey is wearing a black bra after having spent the night with Jack. But when she's checking herself in the mirror, she's wearing a white one.

Error: In episode #1.07 (06:00 am - 07:00 am), the sun is just rising above the horizon in the beginning of the episode. However when Jack stops at the traffic lights all shadows show the sun standing high in the sky, revealing that the episode was filmed in broad daylight and that the dark look has been accomplished by post processing.

Continuity Error: In episode #1.07 (6:00 am - 7:00 am), Palmers red tie changes between shots right after he puts it on.

Errors in geography: At the beginning of episode #2.5 (12:00pm - 1:00pm) Jack drives back to CTU Headquarters near downtown Los Angeles from Joseph Wald's house in Simi Valley and arrives at 12:09pm. Simi Valley is 45 miles from Central Los Angeles, which would make it impossible to drive in only nine minutes as Jack's average speed would have to have been 300 miles per hour.

Each episode of the show opens with a title screen and Kiefer Sutherland's voice-over saying "The following takes place between (hour) and (hour)" However, the first season of the show had a slightly longer intro, adding "...on the day of the California Presidential Primary." In addition, various episodes have featured the "Events Occur in Real Time" title.

For the season finale of the first season, and many episodes in the following seasons, a warning for graphic violence was added.

For some of the introductions, Kiefer Sutherland adds "On the longest day of my life."

In the UK, the show is broadcast on BBC 2. The BBC does not run commercials during programming. Because of this, the episodes do not run in "real time". To account for this, every episode cuts out the opening line, "Events occur in real time".

The version of '24' shown on BBC2 in the UK had roughly a minute of added footage missing from the U.S release. The small extensions take place in the last 5 episodes and contain such as Terri telling Nina that she is pregnant and Jack Bauer reloading his guns at the pier shootout.

The premieres of season 2 and 3 originally aired commercial-free and were about 52 minutes long. There are also 44 minute versions for syndication that have had several scenes edited out.

In the German TV Version, Nina doesn't speak German to the people she works for but Spanish. Yet she is still ordered to relocate to Munich.

UK version of episode 2.6 was edited to remove some dialogue about a terrorist recruitment center. Original dialogue is: "You ever hear of the Finsbury Park mosque? It's considered to be one of the main recruitment centers for Islamic terrorists in the west. Our main targets are European Muslims with Western education, passports and the potential to blend into Western society. And do you know, where that mosque is located? Your hometown, London. So tell me Reza, how is my racial profiling going now?" This was changed to: "Our main targets are European Muslims with Western education, passports and the potential to blend into Western society. So tell me Reza, how is my racial profiling going now?"

Some episodes with a "Not under 16" rating were cut to be broadcast at primetime on German TV.