In 1929, a westbound Orient Express train was stuck in snow for five days at Çerkezköy, approximately one hundred thirty kilometers (eighty-one miles) from Istanbul, Turkey. This incident inspired the setting of the book and movie.
84-year-old Dame Agatha Christie attended the movie premiere in November 1974. It was the only movie adaptation in her lifetime with which she was completely satisfied. In particular, she felt that Albert Finney's performance came closest to her idea of Poirot (though she was reportedly unimpressed with his too-subtle mustache). The premiere was her final public appearance. She died fourteen months later, on January 12, 1976.
During promotion and publicity junkets, many of the stars admitted, independently of one another, that their chief reason for appearing in this movie was the chance to meet and work with the other cast members. In her memoir, Lauren Bacall recalled that the lure for most of the cast was getting to act on-screen with "Albie" Finney (Albert Finney).
The final scene, in which Poirot relates his solution to the crime, had to be shot countless times, as it required more angles than could be captured in a single take, and more cameras than could fit on the confining dining car set. The multiple takes were especially challenging for Albert Finney, whose uninterrupted monologue was eight pages long, but many cast members later recalled the tedium of sitting motionless for so long, maintaining their physical posturing for continuity, bolstered only by their professional drive to provide support for Finney's tour de force.
The luxury food that is inspected and carried aboard the train had been stolen from the set just before shooting. All of the food had to be bought again, in the middle of the night, on-location in Paris, France.