Peter Yates was first offered the job of director.
Cilla Black was offered the role of Lorna.
According to the DVD commentary, although never formally planned, the start of the anticipated sequel resolved the cliffhanger ending of the original by having the Mafia arrive in helicopters and lifting the bus back onto the road to recover the gold (incidentally rescuing Charlie and the gang). The rest of the movie would then involve Charlie's crew pulling a second heist to steal the gold back from the Mafia.
At the time of making of the film, there was no ending, and it was left to the US studio to create one. The main crew and writer hated what they came up with so the 2nd unit was given the job of filming it.
August 2001: To mark the completion of a new 10 km sewer in Hull (England), Yorkshire Water re-created the famous scene where the Minis escape through the tunnels of Turin, this time using the recently-released new-shape BMW Mini.
Believed to be the first time the word "camp" was used, in a movie, to describe a male homosexual.
BMC (British Motor Corporation), the owners of Mini, refused to donate any cars to the film. The boss of Fiat Motors offered to donate all the cars they needed including Fiat 500s in place of the Minis. The director however decided that as it was a very British film, it should be British Minis. Fiat's boss still donated scores of cars for filming as well as the factory grounds and even though the authorities refused to close the roads, the Italian Mafia stepped in and shut whole sections of Turin down for filming, so the traffic jams in the film are real as are people's actions during it.
Director Peter Collinson's wife, Hazel, appeared in all his films "for luck". In this film she appears at the Mafiosos' dinner as the blonde wife of the visiting American. She was called in the last minute because Collinson was being sent only tall, dark Italian models and he wanted "a short, blonde scrubber". Also, when Croker is getting out his equipment from under the bed after he leaves prison, he calls the rope and grappling hook "Hazel."
During the chase, the minis always stay in the order red, white and blue, the colours of the British Union Flag.
Fiat immediately saw the potential for product promotion in this movie and offered an unlimited supply of Fiat 500s, plus top-of-the-line Lamborghinis and Ferraris, plus $50,000 if the producers would use the Italian cars instead of the Minis. The Minis stayed because they were seen as quintessentially British and one of the themes of the movie is us vs. them, i.e. Britain versus Europe.
In a 2003 UK movie survey, Charlie Croker's (Michael Caine) line, "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" was voted the most memorable line in any film.
In a BBC documentary to celebrate his 70th birthday in March 2003, Michael Caine revealed his character's "great idea", and the deleted ending of the film, as the gang's bus teeters on the edge of a cliff. "The next thing that happens is you turn the engine on," he said. "You all sit exactly where you are until all the petrol has run out, which changes the equilibrium. We all jump out of the bus and the gold goes over the cliff. And at the bottom are the Italian mafia, sitting waiting for the gold." This was also rumoured to be the premise for the sequel "The Brazillian Job"
Noel Coward was director Peter Collinson's godfather in real life. The part was in part a recognition of the role he played in giving the director, who had grown up unhappy in an orphanage, his start.
Noel Coward was not in good health and had a hard time learning lines for the movie, so his longtime companion/partner Graham Payn had a cameo role as Bridger's assistant so he could be on hand to help with any problems.
Parts of the stock film footage of this film were later used in Thief of Budapest. In the story, Macgyver and a band of gypsies use the Mini Coopers to escape from Hungary.
Screenwriter Troy Kennedy-Martin wanted Nicol Williamson for the role of Mr. Bridger, a character he envisioned as "tough as nails" and totally in control of the situation. Director Peter Collinson offered the role to Noel Coward instead, which changed the tone of the character.
Some of the traffic jam scenes were real. The film crew blocked off some key roads. The Italian drivers became very annoyed but they did not notice who the culprits were.
The "Chinese" plane delivering the gold to Turin airport is one of the rare (only 14 ever built) Douglas C-74 Globemaster transport planes.
The coach used in the film was a Bedford VAL with Harrington Legionaire bodywork.