Usually exterior opening shots on "Smallville" are buildings around Vancouver, where it is filmed. They are supposed to represent the fictional Metropolis of the Superman story. I noticed they have been using an occasional NYC shot. In the episode "Masquerade" this scene came up at around the 33:00 mark of the aired episode. Notice how they blanked out the Watchtower sign. I have been suspecting there is a Superman/Watchtower connection and this is yet another data point of evidence.
http://watchtowerkarma.webs.com/superman.html
