Their base of operations were a complex of eight underground laboratories built on a remote island in the South Pacific. In 1987, the underground facilities that housed the experiments and community of researchers was abandoned.

In 2004, the complex was discovered by the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815  where a flight was pulled down by a strange pulse of electromagnetic energy emanating from the island.

Survivor John Locke had used dynamite found on the wreck of a sailing vessel called" The Black Rock" to open a large hatch which gained them access to the underground facility. As they investigate the research labyrinth, the survivors find stations called "The Swan," "The Pearl," "The Arrow," "The Staff," and "The Flame" (only mentioned but not explored).

In station No. 3 labeled "The Swan" survivors Locke and Eko find a training film (the third of six) which orients research volunteers as to their responsibilities in that area. The narrator of the film is a man identified as Marvin Candle who has a prosthetic hand.

The films (© 1980) provide and overview of the DI project and provides instruction on how to monitor the computer and  reset the it every 108 minute by typing the code 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 into the system. The 815 survivors later learned that if the code was not entered, a cataclysmic electromagnetic discharge would rock the island. One such discharge had caused the Oceanic Flight 815 to fall from the sky.

In station "The Pearl" a video explains this section's responsibility is to monitor researchers in other areas. Their observations are to be recorded in journals and then sent via pneumatic tubes to another station for analysis. 

The narrator of this video is the same man as in the "Swan" film but he identifies himself as Dr. Mark Wickman 

Swan Film #3	Dr. Marvin Candle	Psychology
Para-Psychology	Observers	Zoology Specimens
Electromagnetism	Hanso Foundation	Pearl Film