"Q"/ Major Boothroyd played by Desmond Llewelyn appears for the first time. This character was played by Peter Burton in Dr. No. When Burton was unable to return for this film, the role was recast with Llewelyn in the part. Llewelyn would reprise the role of "Q" in 16 subsequent Bond films (17 performances in all, but he didn't appear in Live and Let Die. Q is referred to by his real name, "Major Boothroyd," only in Dr. No, this movie, and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Sean Connery said that this movie was his personal favorite out of the Bond films he did.
Sean Connery was outfitted for the film with eight specially tailored Saville Row suits, each one costing in the region of $2000.
Walter Gotell, who plays Morzeny, later played General Gogol in The Spy Who Loved Me and reprised the role of Gogol in 5 Bond films after that.
Pedro Armendáriz playing the role of Kerim Bey, was terminally ill during filming with the cancer he had likely contracted while filming the notorious film The Conqueror near the site of the US nuclear test site in the Utah desert. Armendariz had accepted the role in 'From Russia With Love' partially as a means of providing financial security for his widow, and the film's schedule was altered in order to film the scenes in which he appeared while he was still physically able. Towards the end of the filming of those scenes, such as the Gypsy camp battle sequence however, director Terence Young had to double for the actor in some of his long shots. One month after all his scenes were completed, Armendariz, in emulation of his friend Ernest Hemingway, committed suicide in a hospital in Los Angeles as his cancer progressed into the advanced stages.
Vladek Sheybal (Kronsteen the chess master) was a well-studied Polish actor hesitant to accept a role in a Bond film because he thought it might not be a good career move, but his friend Sean Connery persuaded him to sign on and it has helped his career enormously.
Albert R. Broccoli once named this film along with The Spy Who Loved Me and Goldfinger as his three favorite James Bond movies, according to an interview with the Hollywood Reporter's Robert Osborne. Sean Connery considers this to be the best of the Bond films.
A spin-off video-game was released a staggering forty-two years after the film was made. James Bond 007: From Russia with Love actually includes Sean Connery's likeness and he even provided the voice. It is Connery's last performance as James Bond to date and he voiced it twenty-two years after Never Say Never Again.
According to the film's CD Soundtrack sleeve notes, this film's theme song debuted in the UK Charts on 14 November 1963 and went to No. #20. In the USA, the film's soundtrack album charted on the 2nd of May 1964 and went to No. #27. A number of tracks on the album do not appear in the film whilst the main titles track on the album is different to that in the film. The soundtrack has never had an extended release with the release of extra tracks like other Bond soundtracks apparently due to the masters being lost.
Actresses considered for the role of Tatiana Romanova included Pia Lindström, Sally Douglas, Magda Konopka, Margaret Lee, Lucia Modugno, Sylva Koscina, Virna Lisi and Tania Mallet, the latter ended up getting the role of Tilly Masterston in Goldfinger. Reportedly, the producers first choice had originally been Elga Andersen but she was allegedly deemed too difficult by the studio United Artists. As such, 1960 Italy's Miss Universe Daniela Bianchi got the part. Her voice was dubbed in the film by an uncredited Barbara Jefford in order to hide her thick Italian accent.
Although he had his reservations about the choice of Sean Connery for the part of James Bond, after seeing him in this film writer Ian Fleming was completely won over by the actor.
Assistant director Kit Lambert later became a record producer and manager for the rock band The Who.
At the beginning of the film, the floor beneath the chess tournament is laid out in a 10 by 8 pattern with 80 squares instead of the standard 64 making for a wider visual shot.
Bond's trick attaché case is the first true Bond film gadget. Other "state of the art" gadgets of the time are the mobile car phone in Bond's Bentley, the miniature tape recorder in the camera, the AR7 survival rifle, the retractable garrote in Grant's watch, and the SPECTRE spring loaded shoe knives.
By the time the film opened in the US in April 1964, production was already underway on Goldfinger.
Colonel Rosa Klebb is based on an actual Russian colonel that Ian Fleming once wrote about in the Sunday Times. Katina Paxinou was the producers' first choice for the role.
During the helicopter sequence towards the end of the film, the inexperienced pilot flew too close to Sean Connery, almost killing him.
Final James Bond movie viewed by Ian Fleming.
First Bond film to end with the declaration "James Bond will return in ...", in this case it was Goldfinger. A tradition that would continue until it was used for the last time at the end of Octopussy.
In 1950, a US naval attaché was assassinated and thrown from the Orient Express train by a Communist agent. This story inspired Ian Fleming's novel "From Russia With Love". Fleming's own experience at an Interpol Conference in Istanbul, Turkey provided the setting. The film To Paris with Love provided the tile.