Because it's an unofficial, unreleased version of the film, the workprint isn't on any standard Blu-ray or DVD release. It primarily circulates in collector circles or on sites like YouTube and specialty film preservation forums.

While modern audiences might prefer the tighter theatrical cut, the workprint allows the film to "breathe." It allows the subplot of the airport police Chief Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) and his skepticism of McClane to develop more naturally. In the theatrical cut, Lorenzo goes from antagonist to ally quite quickly; in the workprint, the transition feels more earned through additional scene interactions.

The opens with a much longer, dialogue-heavy scene in the airport bar. McClane is already drinking, but the tone is darker. He mutters to the bartender about the "two terrorists" he killed in Nakatomi Plaza, revealing overt symptoms of PTSD. This scene explicitly sets up McClane as a man falling apart, not just a cop in the wrong place at the wrong time. It rationalizes his later brutality in a way the theatrical cut only implies.