Screenwriter Richard Maibaum hated Tom Mankiewicz's changes to the script, more specifically the change of Goldfinger's twin brother for Blofeld and the whole climax, which would be an exciting pursuit through Lake Mead in Las Vegas, for an endless action scene on an oil rig.note In fairness to Mankiewicz, Maibaum's aquatic pursuit idea involved things like Roman galleys and Chinese junks under the assumption they were common in Las Vegas, when in reality they weren't, which is part of the reason the setpiece got scrapped.
Sammy Davis Jr. filmed a cameo that ended up on the cutting room floor.
When Bond arrives in Amsterdam we can see a riverboat. A scene was cut in the editing where we were to see the son of Harry Saltzman as a passenger of this boat who called his mother to show him Mrs. Whistler's corpse. He was seated next to Jill St. John during the scene and, according to the James Bond Club France, he did not enjoy her company at all.
Wint and Kidd killing Shady Tree with a "Bang!" Flag Gun that fires real bullets.
Plenty O'Toole having dinner with Bond, ending with Plenty inviting herself to Bond's hotel room. Then, after the "pervert's convention" throws her out the window, Plenty returns to Bond's apartment soaking wet and wearing nothing but a white Modesty Towel to hide her shame in the hopes of retrieving her clothes and to see what has become of Bond. After seeing him having sex with Tiffany an angry Plenty almost leaves... but not before going through Tiffany's purse and finding her address, explaining how Wint and Kidd confused her with Tiffany.
Executive Meddling: When the film aired on ABC the network had the scene where Lana Wood, as Plenty O'Toole, walked around wearing nothing but a flimsy pair of see through pink panties artificially altered to make it appear as though she were wearing a black bra with black panties - despite the fact that her backless purple satin dress clearly showed that she had no bra.
Hostility on the Set: Relationships between Sean Connery and the Eon producers (Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman) were acrimonious at best since at least You Only Live Twice (he felt underpaid among other things, which is why he left the series after that film). Connery was brought back with a huge paycheck after the exit of George Lazenby, and proved difficult to work with on the set of Diamonds are Forever. He outright refused to act whenever Saltzman showed up on the set. He might have reprised the role in a rival production to the series in 1983, Never Say Never Again, partly out of spite.
In Memoriam: For the broadcasting of the film on ITV on 20th December 2020, they ran a dedication card to Sean Connery before the film begins.
Lana Wood's lines were looped in post-production for some reason.
Nikki van der Zyl dubbed Marie, the woman in the opening sequence.
In the first scene, the man that is being attacked by Bond speaks without moving his mouth in any way, suggesting that the voice over was dubbed on top after recording, or the man in question wasn't intended to have any lines.
The trailer contains a brief shot of Bond's feet wearing sandals right before he confronts Marie on the beach. This was the original plan to re-introduce Connery as Bond in the flesh.
One of the trailers shows Professor Metz trapped in the control room as it explodes explosions, implying that he dies. The final film leaves his fate unexplained.
One for the Money; One for the Art: Sean Connery agreed to do his last James Bond film for Eon Productions for a fee of £1.2 million, which he used to found the Scottish International Education Trust, which provides scholarships and funding for Scottish students and artists.
On-Set Injury: During production, the cement block Lana Wood was tied to in the swimming pool slipped down the sloping floor of the pool and dragged her underneath. Fortunately crew members spotted and rescued her.
Scully Box: Lana Wood needed one when on screen with Sean Connery. Except of course, in the scenes where she was lacking her clothes, for which she was given extra high heels to wear in order to compensate for the height difference, as a body double would not have worked for obvious reasons.
Star-Derailing Role: The humongous £1.2 million salary Sean Connery received for this film proved to be a double-edged sword. While it helped him set up the Scottish International Education Trust, it also priced him out of the market as other productions thought he'd become unaffordable. He had to spend a couple of years working in smaller projects for low paynote Most notoriously in Zardoz, where the budget was so low he and the director had to stay in the same house and drive each other to and from the set. to show that he wasn't being driven by big paydays.
The codes that control the satellite are stored on a tape cassette that protrudes prominently in Tiffany's bikini bottom. Today, a flash drive would've been more discreet, though there'd still be the communication SNAFU between Bond and Tiffany.
The moon rover in the film bears no resemblance to the ultimate lunar rover used by NASA in Apollo missions, or any prototype thereof.
Charles Gray (Blofeld) earlier played a British agent in You Only Live Twice. Ironically, said agent is murdered by SPECTRE, so he is basically playing the man ultimately responsible for his own death.
George Lane Cooper plays the tall henchman with sideburns that gets his fingers caught in one of Bond's devices when he searches the spy's pockets at the start of the film. Previously in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he played a henchman that welcomes Bond to Piz Gloria and later pursues him through a village.
David Bauer (Morton Slumber) had previously played an American diplomat in You Only Live Twice, while Ed Bishop (Klaus Hergersheimer) and Shane Rimmer (Tom) played played a NASA Hawaii Technician and a Hawaii Radar Operator in the same film (Rimmer would go on to play a bigger role as the American sub captain in The Spy Who Loved Me).
In Memoriam: The book is dedicated to "the memory of W. W. Jr., at Saratoga, 1954 and 55". This is a tribute to William Woodward Jr., a socialite Ian Fleming met in Saratoga Springs, whose car - Studillac - appears in the story. He was killed by his wife, who mistook him for a prowler.
Recycled Script: In a lot of ways, the book is a remake of Live and Let Die - Bond goes to America, battles a gang that specializes in smuggling some precious mineral, and entices a High-Heel–Face Turn from its sole female member, a woman who had previously sworn off men.
Write What You Know: Ian Fleming's voyage on the Queen Elizabeth provided background information for the final four chapters.
by Sammy Davis Jr..