Actor-Inspired Element: The conversation between Bond and Madeleine just before he sends her and Mathilde to safety was originally supposed to be longer. Daniel Craig suggested nixing it to the few words that they exchange, feeling that they could still convey the necessary emotion.
Backed by the Pentagon: The British military worked alongside the production crew to provide filming locations, but also provide technical assistance and/or extras in various scenes.
Bond goes to Santiago de Cuba at one point. No filming for these scenes took place in Cuba, rather in Jamaica and at Pinewood Studios.
Parts of the Norway chase were filmed in Scotland.
The filming of the climax on Safin's island (implied to be one of the Kuril Islands in the North Pacific, claimed by both Russia and Japan) took place on the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.
All of Daniel Craig's previous Bond films, from Casino Royale to Spectre, were co-produced and released by Sony's Columbia Pictures in partnership with MGM and Eon Productions (hence the placement for Sony products in them). The contract ended with Spectre and was not renewed. For No Time to Die, MGM and Eon partnered with Universal, who handled distribution internationally while MGM handled distribution stateside via the resurrected United Artists unit (as United Artists Releasing), thus making it the first and so far only James Bond film to be released by UA since 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.
A second, COVID-induced channel hop was considered but averted. Many outlets reported that MGM sought to sell the rights to the film in the face of massive accruing interest amidst the film's delays, alongside millions of dollars in wasted marketing; Apple TV+ and Netflix allegedly considered the acquisition, but balked at the $600 million price tag. Amazon’s wholesale acquisition of MGM was later announced, but was not completed before the film's release; it was also reported that Amazon offered assurances that future Bond films would be released theatrically regardless.
Content Leak: Set photos with Léa Seydoux and child actress Lisa-Dorah Sonnet were leaked in 2020, leading to many people and film news outlets piecing together that Bond fathered a child in the film. Parts of the script leaked also, showing that the final scene was of Nomi escorting Madeleine and Mathilde to safety. The lack of a mention of Bond led many to begin speculating — correctly — that Bond would not survive the events of the film.
Creator Backlash: Ben Whishaw has expressed some annoyance with the fact that Q's boyfriend is only briefly referred to but not seen.
Weeks before most cinemas shut down during the COVID-19 Pandemic, many sold popcorn bags featured the film's original April 2020 release date. Ironically though, they just had "April 2" without "2020" attached, and the film was later re-scheduled for release on April 2... 2021, one year later. Which would change again when the movie was rescheduled for September 30, 2021.
The theme song by Billie Eilish was released as a single in February 2020, complete with a Video Full of Film Clips, televised live performances, and even a karaoke version, right before COVID-19 shut everything down. The original intent was to release the song six weeks before the film to drum up hype, but those six weeks became 20 months.
The film's Funko Pop! figures were revealed in mid-2020.
Deleted Scene: The film's very first "behind the scenes" video showed the scene of Bond sneaking back to his home in Jamaica after sensing that someone went there. In that one, he was armed with the Harpoon Gun he uses for fishing. In the finished film, he is armed with a gun instead. This article details several others, such as Safin and young Madeline actually speaking after he saves her from drowning, Bond and Madeline having a few more scenes in Matera, Bond and Moneypenny driving to Q's apartment, etc.
Lyutsifer Safin is a Russian of Tatar descent.note A newspaper clipping explicitly states that Safin's family was from Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Safin is a common Tatar surname. His actor Rami Malek is American-Egyptian.
The Italian thug Primo ("Cyclops") is portrayed by French-Algerian actor Dali Benssalah.
Russian scientist Valdo Obruchevnote Valdo is by no means a Russian name, it's German, so Obruchev may have mixed ancestry is played by Swedish-Danish actor David Dencik.
Much fuss has been caused by a misunderstanding about Lashana Lynch's character, specifically about her "being the new James Bond." No one at Eon Productions ever said that. She's just the new 007; she replaced Bond after his retirement at the end of Spectre and got his Code Name. Barbara Broccoli even stepped in to reassert that "James Bond will always be a man."
Phoebe Waller-Bridge became the first female writer to be credited for scripting a Bond film since Johanna Harwood, who worked on the first two entries. This led to allegations that Waller-Bridge was a diversity hire or was only hired to address recent criticisms concerning the Bond Girls. Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, and Waller-Bridge herself denied this, always saying that merit played a large part. Craig, in particular, got very defensive whenever questions about Waller-Bridge's hiring was discussed.
Hey, It's That Place!: Matera was used as the city on Themyscira in Wonder Woman (with some added CGI scenery) in addition to doubling asJerusalem in a ton of biblical films (and 2016's Ben-Hur). No Time to Die is a rare instance of non-Italian film where the city appears as itself.
Killed by Request: In an interview, Daniel Craig revealed that he pitched the idea of Bond being killed off at the end of his tenure from as early as when he started filming Casino Royale. He wasn't necessarily keen on coming back after Spectre and its Happy Ending, but he eventually did, the latter became a Series Fauxnale and the original idea was implemented for full closure of his cycle.
Looping Lines: There is a downright jarring occurrence during the aftermath of the Cuba bar shootout. Bond pours himself and Paloma a quick drink, while a voice easily one or two octaves lower than Daniel Craig's snarks, "three weeks training?" and then the original audio resumes.
Milestone Celebration: The film is the 25th in the Eon franchise. That it has parts set in Jamaica might not be coincidence, considering Ian Fleming resided and wrote a number of Bond novels there, and some of the novels are set there. Additionally, Dr. No (the first film in the franchise) was set and filmed there.
Additionally, while obviously unplanned, the COVID-19 pandemic pushing the release back a year unintentionally allowed Craig's finale to debut during the 15th anniversary of Casino Royale.
In one trailer (at roughly 0:10), Bond stands in a doorway and gazes at Madeleine while she sleeps. In the movie, we get something slightly different—he's standing near the bed, then leans over her to wake her up with a kiss.
In another, as cited in the "Deleted Scene" post, Bond approaches his Jamaican house with a Harpoon Gun, but in the movie itself, it's a regular handgun.
Another one has Bond telling Madeline "You're right, the past isn't dead" when he returns to their hotel room following the attack at Vesper's grave. In the movie, he says "Letting go is hard."
On-Set Injury: Daniel Craig sustained an ankle injury while filming in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. In a separate filming accident, a controlled explosion caused exterior damage to the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries.
The plot about nanotechnology and Bond telling Madeleine "We have all the time in the world" appeared in early drafts for Spectre.
The plot about Bond's lover having a secret child was originally planned for Quantum of Solace, although in that case, it wouldn't have been fathered by him, but still been the reason she was being forced to betray him.
Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Since Rami Malek was still filming the fourth and final season of Mr. Robot at the same time while filming this film, he had to wear a wig for his role as Safin because he still had his Elliot haircut.
The deaths of both Felix Leiter and James Bond himself reflected in the recent passings of their previous portrayers in the franchise at the time of this installment's making David Hedison, who had played Felix in Live and Let Die and Licence to Kill and the officially first two original 007s Sean Connery and Roger Moore.
The five year Time Skip that occurs between the prologue and the rest of the movie is reflected in the similar (6 years) gap between this film and its predecessor, even if this was partly unintentional (1.5 of those years were due to cinemas being shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic).
The Red Stapler: Mathilde's handmade wool baby toy ("doudou" in French) was made by a small French workshop called "Une Pelote de Laine". The demand for it increased significantly after the film came out.
The original release date when Danny Boyle was attached was November 8, 2019, but the film was pushed back to February 14, 2020 after Boyle was replaced by Cary Fukunaga out of Creative Differences (some sources claim Boyle refused to have Bond die), and Daniel Craig became unavailable as he signed on to star in Knives Out.
It was then pushed back again to April 2020 to allow for further rewrites and smooth filming. Then it was pushed back to November 2020, a year further than the original schedule and a full five years after Spectre, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which has shut down a large number of cinemas throughout the world and stateside in 2020.
It was then moved again, to April 2, 2021, which would have made this the first film since Licence to Kill to not receive an autumn release date... if not for the fact that it was then moved again to September 30, 2021.
This led to a massive 20-month release gap between the film and Billie Eilish's theme song for it, which was released in February 2020 ahead of the pre-COVID release date — the song won a Grammy Award in the interim.
The gap between wrap and release was so long that companies that paid for Product Placement in the film were demanding reshoots because the products being featured were now getting out of date.
Léa Seydoux also returns as Madeleine Swann from Spectre. This makes her only the second actress to play the same Bond Girl twice after Eunice Gayson played Sylvia Trench in both Dr. No and From Russia with Love. She is, however, the first leading Bond Girl to be reprising her role.
Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from Spectre. This makes Waltz the first actor to put a face to the character across two movies, as the only other time Blofeld was played by the same actor twice (Anthony Dawson physically played him in From Russia with Love and Thunderball while Eric Pohlmann supplied the voice in both movies), he was only seen from the hands down.
Also from Spectre, there's British actress Brigitte Millar as Spectre operative Vogel.
Saved from Development Hell: Production stalled on this one due to financial reasons at MGM, Daniel Craig (who producer Barbara Broccoli was not wanting to let go) wanting a break to dedicate time to his family (he's had a daughter with Rachel Weisz in 2018) and other projects like Knives Out and stage plays, issues developing the script [as shown by the number of writers involved], and eventually the Creative Differences that culminated with the director replacement.
Sequel Gap: Almost six years passed between Spectre and No Time to Die's releases. It is the second longest gap between films of the James Bond franchise, after the one from Licence to Kill to GoldenEye (six and a half years).note And that happened entirely because of a messy dispute over TV rights to the franchise being sold off by Italian fraudster Giancarlo Parretti, who briefly took over MGM in the early 90s before being ousted and arrested, while for this one was the production itself plus the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Similarly Named Works: A 1958 film that shares the same title. What makes it interesting is that it was directed by Terence Young, produced by Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and written by Richard Maibaum; the original director, producer and writer of the James Bond films (Young directed three out of the first four Bond films, Cubby was the long-time producer of the films and father of current producer Barbara Broccoli, and Maibaum wrote or co-wrote all the Bond films from Dr. No to Licence to Kill, with the exception of You Only Live Twice — written by Roald Dahl —, Live and Let Die (written by Tom Mankiewicz), and Moonraker — written by Christopher Wood).
This is the second film in a row to star Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas, after the two of them had been in Knives Out, which was released the previous year. In fact, according to interviews, Craig had recommended for de Armas to be cast in No Time to Die. Not only that, but after the film's release, when it was revealed that her character only had one scene, it was revealed that her entire sequence was added to the script late in production exclusively to take advantage of Craig and de Armas appearing together in Knives Out.
And it's also the sixth film to feature Craig and Ben Whishaw (Q) together. Aside from this film, Spectre, and Skyfall, they also starred in The Trench (1999), Enduring Love and Layer Cake.
Throw It In!: The entire sequence with Paloma was added to the script late in production to take advantage of the fantastic chemistry Daniel Craig had shared with Ana de Armas in Knives Out. This certainly helps explain why her role is so weirdly short, as she couldn't actually affect any of the plot that had already been written and/or shot.
Torch the Franchise and Run: The film represents the first attempt at definitively ending an iteration of the James Bond franchise rather than have it continue past the lead actor hired for a run (as everything from Dr. No to Die Another Dayvery vaguely shared the same continuity, albeit with some necessary creative liberties to do that), and it goes out with a bang in doing so in taking risks that fundamentally change the status quo that would never be attempted otherwise. By the end of the film, Felix Leiter is killed, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Spectre are destroyed alongside Lyutsifer Safin, and James Bond himself opts to die rather than to potentially become a walking weapon of mass destruction. This doesn't mean the end of the James Bond franchise, but it does mark the first time that a Bond film has ended with the apparent death of James Bond himself.
Troubled Production: The film had a tumultuous pre-production, starting with Danny Boyle's abrupt departure from the project over reported Creative Differences with Daniel Craig and the producers. The film's release date was pushed back twice from October 2019 to April 2020, and the script was repeatedly being re-written by committee well into shooting in what one anonymous source described as a "well-polished shitshow." Furthermore, Craig injured his ankle during filming in Jamaica (after a reported argument with director and co-writer Cary Fukunaga), which led to the London shoot being delayed. Furthermore, in January 2021, some sponsor brands of the film demanded reshoots pertaining to their Product Placement — some products used by Bond in the film apparently became "obsolete" due to the long COVID delays until the release.
Underage Casting: Madeleine Swann was a child when Safin was chasing and trying to kill her, which explains why he goes after her in the future. From the looks of it, Safin may be in his late 40s-early 50s when he goes after Bond and Madeleine, while his actor Rami Malek is only 4 years older than Madeleine's actress Léa Seydoux.
Working Title: All The Time in the Worldnote which would have dropped a HUGE hint at either Madeleine or Bond’s fate. It also explains the use of the song at separate intervals in the movie. , 007, License Renewednote referring to Bond rejoining MI6 and also to the original title of Licence to Kill, "Licence Revoked" , Risico, The Spy That Never Sleeps, Property of a Ladynote this was supposed to be Timothy Dalton's third Bond film, only for production to be derailed by the MGM/Parretti saga, see above, Carte Blanche, The Death Collector, For Queen and Country and Shatterhand (which was used as a working title).
Other Trivia:
Cary Fukunaga is the first American director to helm an Eon-produced Bond film in the long history of the franchise.note Irvin Kershner directed Never Say Never Again in 1983, and John Huston and Robert Parrish were two of the six directors who worked on Casino Royale (1967) (although Parrish ultimately went uncredited), but both films were produced by rival companies to Eon. Most of the others were British with the exceptions of Marc Forster (German-Swiss) and Martin Campbell and Lee Tamahori (both from New Zealand, which is incidentally part of the The Commonwealth of Nations).
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the first female screenwriter credited with writing a Bond film since Johanna Harwood, Harry Saltzman's secretary, had a story credit for From Russia with Love all the way back in 1963. Harwood also contributed to the script for Goldfinger, albeit uncredited. The World Is Not Enough also had an uncredited contribution from Dana Stevens (then-wife of the film's director Michael Apted).
At 17 years, 10 months old at the time of the first recordings, Billie Eilish is the youngest musician to both write and perform a theme song in the history of the franchise.
At two hours and forty-three minutes, this film is officially the longest in the James Bond franchise, exceeding Spectre's runtime by fifteen minutes. Adding to that, the film's pre-title sequence, which runs over twenty minutesnote 23 minutes and 47 seconds precisely, if you count from the moment the gunbarrel sequence starts to the final frame of the theme song, is officially the longest pre-title sequence of all the James Bond films, surpassing the one in The World Is Not Enough, which ran for fifteen minutes.
in the face of massive accruing interest amidst the film's delays, alongside millions of dollars in wasted marketing; Apple TV+ and Netflix allegedly considered the acquisition, but balked at the $600 million price tag. Amazon’s wholesale acquisition of MGM was later announced, but was not completed before the film's release; it was also reported that Amazon offered assurances that future Bond films would be released theatrically regardless.