The UK television broadcast ended with a dedication to Jon Pertwee, the third actor to play The Doctor in Doctor Who (1963) (and one of the most popular), who had died a week earlier.
When The Doctor rifles through a locker looking for clothes, we see him momentarily admiring a long scarf. Doctor Who (1963)'s Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, wore a long scarf in his regular costume.
Christopher Eccleston, who would later play the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who (2005), was offered the role of the Eighth Doctor but declined to audition, because at the time he felt he was not yet an established enough actor and did not want to be associated with a "brand name" so early in his career.
The BBC originally wanted Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), to be the Doctor at the opening of the film, as this version of the Doctor was the one most familiar to American audiences. The American executive producer Philip David Segal insisted on Sylvester McCoy, as he was an avid Doctor Who fan and felt the Seventh Doctor still deserved a proper send-off. BBC One Controller Alan Yentob and executive producer Jo Wright were very resistant to the return of Sylvester McCoy, as they associated him with the decline in popularity and eventual cancellation of the original series. Wright eventually said that McCoy could appear as long as he was "in it for a very short time and didn't say anything". This was revealed on a documentary made about the film.
The "sonic screwdriver" seen in action at the start of the film, was first used by the second Doctor. This marks the first appearance of the sonic screwdriver since it was destroyed in The Visitation: Part Three (1982). Upgraded versions of the device have become a staple in the revived Doctor Who (2005) series.
Geoffrey Sax: The Dalek voices heard at the beginning were not from the original Doctor Who (1963), but were actually the slightly treated voice of the director.