Much of Anthony Head's dialog has been very noticeably re-dubbed in this episode. This is most noticeable in the scene where Buffy first asks Giles about the earthquake - the lip-sync is off and the audio is far too clean in comparison to Sarah Michelle Gellar's.
Buffy explains the difference between herself and Riley is that he treats demon hunting as a job, while for Buffy, it is her destiny. This echoes Buffy's conversation with Kendra at the end of What's My Line?: Part 2 (1997), in which Buffy's role was reversed and Kendra lectured Buffy about not treating slaying like a job because it is who she is. In the two years since that conversation, Buffy's experience has forced her to more readily reconcile her identity with that of being the Slayer.
About the unusual process of three writers for one episode, Douglas Petrie has described:
"I think in terms of the line-up, I probably would have written that one myself except I was getting married that week and as much as I love Buffy, I was glad I took that couple of days off! It was tough and it was funny because Jane [Espenson], Marti [Noxon] and Joss [Whedon] were all there for my wedding. Jane, at one point, was on the dance floor and said, 'Okay, I've got to go back...' We were writing it over a weekend. "Doomed" was very difficult. I was around for the breaking of the story and I'm happy about that. It was difficult, and it was hard. I think that we were really up against the wall. We didn't know what we were going to do and we didn't have much time. Things either go really, really well when that happens. You are blessed with some kind of inspiration, things click and they move fast because you don't have time. Wonderful things happen. Or... You work really hard and you do your best and hope. I think that was the case with "Doomed". It was a lot of hard work. Buffy and Riley are the King and Queen of their respective worlds and have their own methods of dealing with the enemy."
This dialogue was cut due to length:
- Xander: "Look at you! You have knees! Very white knees!"
- Spike: "Damn things keep doing that."
- Xander: "You know I'm not any happier about you wearing my stuff than you are."
- Spike: "That cannot be true. Don't know how you let yourself be seen in this... Wanker-wear."