NBC missed the best part of the SNL 40 reunion show last night, Feb. 15: the afterparty. Things were only heating up when the 3 1/2-hour comedy event wrapped up. Former cast members like Jimmy Fallon and some of music's finest gathered for an afterparty at the Plaza Hotel to celebrate a little longer. Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney -- who were both a part of the SNL 40 show -- and Prince performed, much to the delight of everyone in the building. The festivities died down around 4 a.m., Consequence of Sound reported.

Instagram videos, including one from Questlove, illustrated just how crazy the post-production party got. Fallon either MC'd the event or just did not want to leave the stage because the comedian can be seen in videos with McCartney singing "Saw Her Standing There" and alongside Swift for "Shake It Off." Tons of talent graced the stage as Prince led the group in a fitting rendition of "Let's Go Crazy." Members of HAIM, Bill Murray and Maya Rudolph can be seen in the video below as Fallon headbangs along.

Prior to the event, Saturday Night Live mastermind Lorne Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter how the reunion event came together.

"The rules we used were these: Every host was invited. Every musical guest was invited. Any cast member and writer who had been here longer than a year was invited. Not everybody is going to come. The other rule we used, which was just the simplest way to go, was if people sent back their RSVP, they were in the mix of people we could write for. On the 25th anniversary -- which turned out remarkably well and was the first time I thought, 'I could stop now and be good' -- we did mostly live moments with tape and clips. This time, we have some of that, but we're doing more performances," he said.

Popular sketches like "Celebrity Jeopardy!" and "Wayne's World" were resurrected for the special in addition to characters like Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch), Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon) and Billy Ocean (Murray). Kanye West and Paul Simon were among some of the musical guests.

Caption this #snl40

A video posted by djcassidy (@djcassidy) on Feb 16, 2015 at 1:49am PST

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