The new FX drama Tyrant: Photo: IMDb.

The new FX Network drama Tyrant was shot entirely in Israel, just 10 miles north of Tel Aviv, Bloomberg News reported last Tuesday.

Tyrant follows the life of an Arab dictator’s second son Barry, played by Adam Rayner, who reluctantly returns home to the Middle Eastern nation of his birth to join the family business away from his suburban life in America.

The elaborate set production for the primetime drama included a crew of 300 and a reported cost of over $3 million an episode, according to Bloomberg.

Tyrant is the first primetime U.S. drama to be shot entirely in Israel, Bloomberg noted. It follows in the footsteps of other American shows that filmed episodes in Israel including Showtime’s Homeland, which shot its Beirut scenes in the Jewish state.

Using Israel as a stand in for an Arab nation has been controversial, Bloomberg said, but Arab-Israeli actor Ashraf Barhom, who plays Barry’s older brother Jamal, said it has worked well so far.

“It is tricky but so far I believe we’ve managed to find really a path. It’s always on the edge but I love that,” he said. “It goes to a different place where it makes it again reflect about the big idea of tyranny and control. It is sensitive and challenging at the same time.”

Tyrant premiered Tuesday on FX at 10 p.m. ET.

Watch Bloomberg’s report below: