The 2000 MTV VMAs are what awards show fever dreams are made of. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kevin Mazur/WireImage, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc, Scott Gries/Getty Images, Steve Azzara/Corbis via Getty Images, Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect)It was one of those nights where live television was electric, unpredictable and completely unforgettable.

Britney Spears made pop history with her performance of "Oops!... I Did It Again." Fred Durst jumped onstage with Christina Aguilera and fueled tabloid rumors in real time. The night's wildest surprise came when Rage Against the Machine's Tim Commerford scaled a massive set piece and refused to come down after Limp Bizkit snagged Best Rock Video, sending producers panicking. Add in J.

Lo and Diddy's red carpet arrival (and the chaos that followed), and it's no wonder the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards are still considered perhaps the most memorable in the network's awards show history.

Salli Frattini, one of the show's executive producers, was the nerve center for all the mayhem, wrangling stars, crafting surprises and keeping the night from going off the rails.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"When I went back and scrolled through the show again [before our conversation], I was like, 'Holy shit, all this happened at the same time,'" she laughs to Yahoo.

Here's the untold story of a night that lives in pop culture infamy.

Power coupleBefore the broadcast even started on Sept. 7, 2000, the energy outside Radio City Music Hall in New York City was intoxicating. This was the height of the Total Request Live era, when pop stars and boy bands ruled MTV's airwaves.

Frattini says it was no surprise that Spears and NSync garnered the most screams from onlookers who swarmed outside the venue to get a glimpse of their favorite artists. But that year, no entrance turned heads quite like Jennifer Lopez and Sean "Diddy" Combs.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"As we're booking talent to come to the show, we very much deliberately would try to go after some of the trending couples. Obviously, J.

Lo and Diddy dating at the time was a big one," she says. "They just both loved the press."Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs arrive at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images)Their red carpet appearance was orchestrated for maximum buzz. "We tried to really time their arrival so the majority of the press was there," Frattini says, recalling "a lot of discussion with their PR people" prior to the show about what they would and wouldn't do on the red carpet.

When they stepped out of the car together, J.

Lo and Diddy stopped and turned to a crowd of fans who were screaming from bleachers across the street. The couple posed for photographers and walked hand in hand into the venue.

Slim Shady and the 6th Avenue shutdownOf course, the most impressive entrances didn't end on the carpet. Eminem made sure of that when he performed "The Real Slim Shady," parading 125 lookalikes from the street to inside the theater. While it looked effortless on TV, it was also a logistical miracle.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"A lot of what I had to deal with was shutting down 6th Avenue, the busiest avenue in Manhattan. We were [airing] live, so it had to be very specific and coordinated - shutting down at this time, then reopening, trying to get the fans outside," Frattini says. "And technically, 20 years ago, we weren't where we are now with technology."Eminem and his look-alikes at rehearsals for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)Eminem, for his part, was all business. "He was always really professional. He would show up, do his job. He's no nonsense. He wasn't a chitchatter, like some other people. Just, 'Tell me what you need me to do,'" she says.

This was also when Eminem was feuding with Spears and Christina Aguilera, both of whom were performing that night. When asked if she had to stagger rehearsals so they wouldn't run into each other, Frattini says it was never that deep."You know what? We didn't," she says. "There definitely were some requests that would come in for management about 'personality sensitivities.' So we were trying to be conscious of that. I don't think we deliberately set up a sabotage moment. They [all] knew everybody would be there."Fred Durst and Eminem at rehearsals during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. (KMazur/WireImage via Getty Images)Producers made sure to get a reaction shot of both Carson Daly and Fred Durst when Eminem rapped the song's verse about their supposed love triangle with Aguilera. That, she says, is just show business.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We strategically had to seat people so we could show [their faces] when [Eminem] would walk by," Frattini explains. "It was great."Aguilera and Durst's surpriseAguilera had more than just a cameo in Eminem's lyrics - she was about to make headlines herself, teaming up with Durst for a mo