As of 2009, George Lazenby is the youngest actor to portray 007 at age 29 during filming. The rest of the actors and their ages, in no particular order: Sean Connery - 31, Roger Moore - 45, Timothy Dalton - 40, Pierce Brosnan - 41 and Daniel Craig - 38.
At least for the German audience the jump from Sean Connery to George Lazenby wasn't as sharp as for the rest of the world: He still sounded the same. Actor Gert Günther Hoffmann, the regular German voice of Connery, dubbed the new James Bond as well.
Blofeld's headquarters was a partially completed restaurant on top of Mount Schilthorn. The owners allowed filming on condition EON paid $125,000 to refit the interior and construct a helicopter pad. When the restaurant opened it was given the name Piz Gloria used in the film. The only public access to the restaurant is by cable car (from Mürren or Stechelberg). The Piz Gloria was the first established revolving mountain restaurant in the world.
Bond and Tracy's wedding day took 5 days to shoot.
Bond's sliding along the ice whilst firing a machine gun in the attack on Piz Gloria was a spur-of-the-moment idea from director Peter R. Hunt.
Cameraman John Jordan developed a special helicopter harness for filming aerial shots of the mountain slopes and the film's action sequences. He would hang eighteen feet below the chopper from a large round metal support apparatus.
Certain film techniques appear in the James Bond series for the first time in this picture: slow motion (when Bond is knocked out in his bedroom), flashback (Bond remembering Tracy being captured). Often "breaking the fourth wall" is named as a technique that is (for the first time) used in this movie, but in fact is isn't: George Lazenby does not look into the camera, when he says; "This never happened to the other fellow". And though it seems to be a self referential remark (Lazenby replaced Sean Connery as Bond) it also has a meaning in the context of the story.
Director Peter R. Hunt had previously edited many 007 movies, the job of editor (and second unit directing) went to John Glen.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld was named after Tom Blofeld with whom James Bond creator Ian Fleming went to school at Eton. His son is cricket commentator Henry Blofeld. Blofeld's birthdate as given in the literature is the same date as Ian Fleming's birthday which is 28 May 1908.
Every year the Swiss army dynamite certain dangerous mountainsides to remove the threat of avalanches. As the storyline called for such an avalanche, the film production worked alongside the army in scouting appropriate sites for filming. Having chosen one, they were dismayed to discover that the avalanche occurred naturally before the crew could get there to film it so the resulting one seen in the film is a combination of stock footage, special effects, and clever use of close-ups and sound.
Features the only signature gun barrel sequence of all Bond films in which Bond drops down on one knee while shooting at the audience. It's also the only version of the sequence where the descending blood completely erases Bond's image, leaving only the red circle.
First film since From Russia with Love to use an instrumental opening theme. The decision to forgo the usual song was prompted by the conclusion that any lyric composition that attempted to include the full title of the film would be awkward and at best sound like a humorous Gilbert & Sullivan song, which would be inappropriate for the film series. As of 2009, no other film in the series since has done so.
First film since Dr. No to put the production credit over the gun barrel intro.
First time M's home (called Quarterdeck in this movie) is seen in a James Bond movie in the series. Casino Royale was the second. M's home is also seen in the unofficial Casino Royale.
For the opening sequence, railway sleepers (railroad ties) were buried under the sand to allow Bond's Aston Martin to drive on the beach.
Former ITN newsreader Carol Barnes filmed scenes with the Angels of Death after showing up to the set with her friend Jenny Hanley. She can be briefly seen serving drinks at the first meal Bond attends.
Greek actor Takis Emmanuel, hired to play Draco's henchman Klett, refused to rehearse for the beach fight in the opening sequence, and so he was fired and replaced by stunt man Bill Morgan, a high fall and trampoline expert. Because the wedding scenes were filmed before the beach scenes, Emmanuel can be seen a few times in the film -- meaning both men technically played the same character in the same film, an unintentional first considering no plot points revolve around it.
In order to help get himself the part of James Bond, George Lazenby went to the same tailor and barber that worked with Sean Connery so when he showed up at Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman's production offices, he'd look more like Connery. Coincidentally, Broccoli was present in the barber's shop when Lazenby showed up for his haircut. This in part did help him establish an image and led to getting the role of James Bond.
In the original take of the final scene featuring Tracy's death, George Lazenby came to tears. Director Peter R. Hunt then made them shoot the scene again because he said that, "Bond does not cry." There were only two takes shot.
James Bond is said to be a descendant of Sir Otto Le Bon. 16 years after this movie, Simon Le Bon and his band Duran Duran sang the music video for A View to a Kill, wherein Simon Le Bon makes a pun about himself and James Bond.