The pistons would have been moving counter-clock, as in going back down from where they just came, not getting into any overlap, since you were trying to loosen the nut.
...BTW your Bieber avatar is awesome.-Malone
Just as a side note, I removed the camshaft pulley nut with the belt on , injection pump lockpin in and camshaft lock in place and....(drumroll please) nothing broke I figured since I pulled a pulley of my spare junk engine with just the cam lock in place and nothing happened I could duplicate it again.