: The term is a play on the 24-hour military clock. "Zero" refers to the hours before 10 a.m. (starting with 0), "Dark" denotes the nighttime or pre-dawn hours, and "Thirty" indicates 30 minutes past the hour.
The title replaced the initial working title, Kill Bin Laden . It was chosen for its thematic depth: subtitle Zero Dark Thirty
: While often used broadly for any "ungodly hour," filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow noted that for the film, it specifically refers to 12:30 a.m. . This was the time Navy SEALs launched the actual raid on the Abbottabad compound. : The term is a play on the 24-hour military clock