Although there are persistent rumors that Ursula Andress was nude in the shower scene to clean her of radiation, closer inspection reveals that she is wearing a flesh-colored one-piece bathing suit.
As detailed as Dr No's underwater lair was, one vital element was very nearly forgotten - background plates of fish swimming in the sea to be added to the thick-glass window. The necessary film was quickly found among library footage the day before the scene was to be filmed. When it turned out the footage featured extreme close-ups of fish, it was decided to have Dr. No explain that the window works as a magnifying glass
At first Eunice Gayson was to play Miss Moneypenny and Lois Maxwell was to play Sylvia Trench, but they switched roles.
Author Ian Fleming wanted his cousin Christopher Lee to play Dr. No. (Lee would later appear as Scaramanga in the 007 flick The Man with the Golden Gun, and would play the character that inspired Fleming to create Dr. No, Dr. Fu Manchu, in several films.) Fleming also asked Noel Coward to play the part of Dr. No. Coward turned down the part by replying with a telegram that read, "Dr. No? No! No! No!" One of Coward's objections was having to wear metal hands. Max von Sydow turned down the part in order to play Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and would finally play a Bond villain in Never Say Never Again. The role went to Joseph Wiseman, the only early Bond villain not to have his voice dubbed by another actor.
Dent shot "Bond" (actually pillows in bed) six times. After some plot point explanation by Bond, Dent lurches for his gun, but it's empty, hence the Bond line, "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." As a kind of payback coda, Bond shoots Dent once, and Dent flips off the bed onto the floor. Bond then fires five more rounds into Dent's back. Censors scaled this back to two total shots, with just one to the back. Reportedly a second version of the scene was filmed, but not in the final film, showing Dent firing off one last bullet before being shot down by Bond. This actually explains why Dent is shown firing a seven-shooter, rather than a six-shooter.
During the initial briefing, M says that he recently was put in charge of MI7. Bernard Lee originally said MI6 during the take, but this has been overdubbed, possibly for fear of offending the real-life organization. In later Bond films, however, 007 clearly works for MI6.
For a long time, this film was tied with Goldfinger as the shortest James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series, with a running time of 111 minutes. Quantum of Solace is now the shortest at 106 minutes.
In the original novel, the scene in which Bond escapes "imprisonment" worked a little differently - Dr. No had actually had an obstacle course set up to challenge Bond. At the end of the obstacle course there was a seaside cage, with a giant squid inside. The film altered and toned down all of this, and the "obstacle course" idea got lost in the translation from novel to film. In the following scene, a sequence involving Honey Rider being tied to the ground and attacked by a swarm of crabs was scrapped because many of the crustaceans arrived frozen, dead and damaged. In the film as shown, water was the threat instead.
In the source novel, the full names of Honey Ryder and Doctor No are Honeychile Rider and Doctor Julius No. Honeychile is the last surviving member of an old sugar plantation family, and was raised by the family servants. The freelance photographer is named Annabelle Chung. Puss-Feller's name means he wrestled an octopus, but the film changes this to an alligator, rendering the name meaningless. The Professor was not named Dent and was not a villain. Strangways and Quarrel were old friends of Bond (from the Live and Let Die novel). There was no evil chauffeur and no Felix Leiter (the latter was in other novels).
It is long standing misconception that John Barry wrote "The James Bond Theme". It actually originated from a song, "Good Sign, Bad Sign" composed by Monty Norman, from an aborted musical, "The House of Mr. Biswas". Barry arranged and orchestrated Norman's theme to produce the theme as it is known throughout the world.
James Bond creator Ian Fleming based the Dragon Tank on a marshlands swamp jeep with very large wheels which he had seen in 1956 on the island of Inagua in the Bahamas.
Location manager Chris Blackwell (who was uncredited) was later the founder of Island Records. He is also the son of Blanche Blackwell who was neighbor, friend and lover of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. He makes a cameo in the film as the tall blond man dancing at Puss Feller's club. Blackwell would later own Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate after 1977 - one of its previous owners was reggae musician Bob Marley.
Miss Moneypenny, the epitome of British efficiency, is played by Lois Maxwell, a Canadian.
Most types of card games ever seen in a James Bond movie totaling three. These were Bridge, Patience and Chemin de Fer / Baccarat. James Bond is seen playing two of these, they being the latter.
Of the £1,000,000 budget, production designer Ken Adam was given £14,000. Adam argued for an extra £6,000 to create his now-exemplary sets.
Only completely animated opening title sequence in the EON Productions James Bond official film series until Casino Royale.
Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were adamant that the film be directed by an Englishman, someone cultivated enough to understand the world of 007.
Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman used Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest as the template for this film and the subsequent early James Bond films. In fact, the role of James Bond was first offered to Cary Grant, the star of North by Northwest, who would commit to one film only and was otherwise too old, and then to its suave and urbane villain, James Mason, who would commit to only two, while Broccoli and Saltzman wanted an actor willing to make a multi-film commitment to the role and the projected series. American actor Steve Reeves who turned the role down. At the time, Reeves had become an international box office sensation in a group of European-made mythological/historical spectacles. Acoording to legend, Irish actor Patrick McGoohan of Danger Man turned the role down on moral grounds. Other actors considered for the lead role included Trevor Howard, Rex Harris
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins seen in the movie included Turnbull & Aser tailoring; Pan Am Airlines; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Dom Perignon Champagne; Red Stripe Beer; Black & White Scotch, BOAC Airlines and Smirnoff Vodka including Smirnoff Blue and Smirnoff Red.
Strangways (played by Tim Moxon) is shot at the beginning by the "Three Blind Mice," one of whom is played by Moxon's dentist.