Direct photons are a powerful tool for elucidating the properties of the hot QCD matter in heavy-ion collisions. They are conventionally estimated by taking into account prompt photon contributions in proton-proton collisions and thermal and prompt photon contributions in heavy-ion collisions. However, there could also be other sources of photons such as pre-equilibrium photons. I investigate prompt, pre-equilibrium and thermal photons and their effects on the direct photon $p_T$ spectra at the CERN Large Hadron Collider energies.