In the Ian Fleming James Bond stories, Hannes Oberhauser, who is the father of this movie's Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), was a skiing and climbing instructor who taught Bond while he was at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. In Fleming's "Octopussy" (1966) short story, Bond says of him: "He taught me to ski before the war, when I was in my teens. He was something of a wonderful man. He was something of a father to me at a time when I happened to need one."
The Day of the Dead parade at the beginning was made up for the film. The Mexicans loved the idea so much that Mexico City held its first Día de Muertos parade the following year, complete with floats, dancers, and giant marionettes.
Daniel Craig said that it was getting harder and harder to get fit for his shirtless scenes as James Bond at the age of 47, saying, "Am I getting my kit off in this movie? Of course I'm getting my kit off. I seem to be bare-chested throughout this film again. Yes, I've been working out for six months. I work myself to death to get fit. No secret method involved, just sheer hard graft. It's getting harder I will admit, but such is life. I'll keep going as long as I'm physically able."
In order to complete the London scenes involving low-flying helicopters, the production had to send out 11,000 letters to residents and businesses that fell within the fly zone. Supervising locations manager Emma Pill said: "The biggest challenge, however, was to light the river at night. This involved several weeks of preparation. We lit under each arch of Vauxhall, Lambeth, and Westminster Bridge, 17 arches in total. These lights then remained in position for five weeks. We also lit the river from 10 rooftops along the bank of the Thames, from Vauxhall Bridge to Hungerford Bridge, working with Lambeth Palace, Tate Britain, and the Royal Parks to gain permission. We also worked very closely with the House of Commons, County Hall, and The London Eye to keep various lights on or off, or to change the color of their lights for each night shoot." Each night shoot involved a location team of nearly 200 personnel that included Marshals, security, traffic management, and police officers. Pill laughed, adding: "That's a lot of radios to hand out and coordinate on a night, but it ran extremely smooth each time."
First James Bond movie not to feature the iconic trumpet playing of Derek Watkins. Since Agente 007 contra el Dr. No (1962), Mr. Watkins had featured on the soundtrack of every Bond movie until his death shortly after the release of Skyfall (2012).
Tom So: Uncredited, as the man with gray hair in a ponytail on the palazzo balcony situated to James Bond's immediate right. Tom So played Mr. Fukutu in Casino Royale (2006).
Mads Mikkelsen: Uncredited, archive footage of his Le Chiffre character from Casino Royale (2006) is seen during the opening titles sequence.
Michael G. Wilson: Uncredited, as a man, alongside his son Gregg Wilson, who also performs a cameo in the same scene, in the sequence where M (Ralph Fiennes) calls C (Denbigh) (Andrew Scott) a "cocky little bastard".
Javier Bardem: Uncredited, archive footage of his Tiago Rodriguez, a.k.a. Raoul Silva character from Skyfall (2012) is seen during the opening titles sequence.
Judi Dench: Uncredited, as the former "M", in a video playback sequence shown on a television. The appearance celebrates Dench's 20th anniversary year playing "M", which had started with GoldenEye (1995). As such, this will probably now make this movie the final appearance by Dench as "M", as before, Skyfall (2012) had been expected to be her last.