The original title of the movie was "Eight Arms to Hold You", although no one really liked it much and by the time the movie was edited, it didn't really fit the storyline at all. John Lennon had written the song "Help!" around the same time, and it suited the movie's theme so well it became the title song.
The pub scene, and the scene in the Bahamas, at "The Temple" are both shot on the same set. The trap-door is used in both scenes.
The scenes set in the Bahamas and the Alps were written expressly to satisfy the Beatles' demands for both a sunny, tropical locale and a skiing holiday, respectively. Another reason for filming in the Bahamas was the tax-breaks it offered, and Cavalcade Productions was formed there to receive the Beatles' appearance fees.
The second of five theatrical movies that feature The Beatles.
The song "A Hard Day's Night" can be heard instrumentally throughout the movie.
The swimmer who pops up twice asking for the White Cliffs of Dover, once in the Alps, and once in the Bahamas, is Mal Evans, road manager for The Beatles.
There are many references to the James Bond films, as United Artists also distributed the films of that series.
There is also a second scene involving a gun, which takes place during the Beatles' visit to Buckingham Palace. This time, the gun fires; nobody is hit, but all four Beatles drop reflexively to the floor.
There was a lengthy scene in the movie (running around 10 minutes) which was filmed but never used. This follows the Beatles escape from Clang and before the elevator scene between John and Ringo, and involved them hiding out at the "Sam Ahab School of Transcendental Elocution", an acting school run by Sam Ahab (played by Frankie Howerd). Sam's pupil Lady Macbeth (a young Wendy Richard) performs a meditation song which causes George to block his ears with earplugs while Clang and his men (hidden in the fireplace) play a piece of music which sends everyone else into a trance. A struggle ensues, as Clang attempts to chop Ringo's hand off with a hatchet to retrieve the ring but the gang are fought off by the non-hypnotized George. After the men flee (and the hatchet is hurled by Clang into a mirror) the others are revived and the scene ends with John yanking the hatchet from the (non-broken) mirror, handing it to Lady Macbeth, and saying, "Is this a chopper that you see before you?". Although filmed this scene has not yet been discovered and may no longer exist.
Three premieres were held for the film.
Throughout the filming, Paul McCartney drove director Richard Lester to distraction by constantly playing the melody of a new song he was working on called "Scrambled Eggs". By the time filming had wrapped, "Scrambled Eggs" had acquired new lyrics and a new title: "Yesterday".
When George warns everyone about the "fiendish thingy," he accidentally touches the breasts of the woman standing behind him. She does not look happy about it.
When John and Ringo are walking along the sidewalk right before Ringo "posts his letter" they are reciting the first stanza of John's poem, "I Sat Belonely" from John's "In His Own Write".
While filming in the Bahamas, The Beatles rented sports cars for each of them to drive in. According to various stories, the boy drove to a rock quarry and began having races and smashing into each other for fun. There is filmed evidence of this fact: in the theatrical trailer, there are excerpts of the Beatles driving around in the quarry mixed with the movie footage.
While the Beatles are attempting to solve Ringo's ring problem at the jeweler's, George can be seen quietly shoplifting various jewels and slipping them into his overcoat pockets!