" Breaking Bad " creator Vince Gilligan cast Bryan Cranston for the role of Walter White based on having worked with him in an episode of what previous television series ?
The script was originally set in Riverside , California , but at the suggestion of Sony , Albuquerque was chosen for production due to the favorable financial conditions offered by the state of New Mexico , and the setting was moved there too because otherwise " we 'd always have to be avoiding the Sandia Mountains " in shots toward the East , according to Gilligan .