A few thoughts from someone who, as a helicopter pilot (ex-fixed wing) flies to very poorly lit sites by night (in the past I sometimes had to land at totally unlit sites). For people doing this job, a lit runway or any sort of approach aid is a luxury.
I've flown to airfields where the runway lights are set far dimmer than the taxiway lighting...not a good idea. Over bright lighting on a taxiway can easily hide large objects, even lit ones e.g. the lights of very large aircraft sitting thereon. I'm not saying this happened on this occasion, but it can happen.
When approaching visually by night, it's of paramount importance to keep an open mind. What you're "seeing" might not be what you ought to be looking at. When approaching a night landing site, do NOT commit yourself to "having found it" because lighting can give you a false impression of what you're looking at. Once that mindset is there, other cues, even very obvious ones, might be totally missed, or ignored. This is why the requirement exists to dial the ILS on a visual approach. The ILS is generally less likely to be "tricked" by false cues. The earlier the false visual cues are picked up, the less likely it is that a pilot will be able to give them up and correct the mistake.
One story about false visual "cues" that always sticks in my mind is that of an RAF Wessex carrying out night flying training on Salisbury Plain, at a field location. Although the weather had earlier been very suitable for night flying training, fog suddenly came in at the base field (RAF Upavon, no navaids, no tarmac runway only a NATO 'T' of lights to land at on the grass field). The aircraft were recalled. The last aircraft back had to recover the training underslung load (a couple of barrels of water in a net). They were both experienced pilots and possibly a little over confident. They came in from the east, saw what they took to be the NATO T on the airfield and made an approach to it, obviously with the underslung load dangling below the Wessex.
When they got to the hover at what should have been the middle of the airfield, they realised the lights they had made an approach to was the "Welcome to RAF Upavon" sign outside the camp gates. They were hovering over the main road and had flown between two tall hangars, which they hadn't seen, to get there. The NATO T lights on the airfield were still on, but they had "locked on " to the incorrect visual cues because they were brighter and were seen first.