-French actress Bérénice Marlohe has said that her characterization of Bond Girl Sévérine was inspired by two things: "The Chimera" from mythology and actress Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp Bond Girl character from GoldenEye -1995(Géniale!!). 'Skyfall' is the first English-speaking role for Marlohe who is the sixth French actress to play a leading Bond girl, the others being Claudine Auger (Opération Tonnerre (1965)), Corinne Cléry (Moonraker (1979)), Carole Bouquet (Rien que pour vos yeux (1981)), Sophie Marceau (Le monde ne suffit pas (1999)), and most recently, Eva Green in Casino Royale (2006). Prior to 'Skyfall', Marlohe once appeared on a TV show wearing just a red wig and nothing else and reportedly, Marlohe didn't have an agent prior to 'Skyfall' and got the part in the film on her own. Marlohe was born in Paris on 19th May 1979 which was just a few months after Moonraker (1979) had finished filming there.
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-The names of the leaked MI6 agents in the YouTube video are names of members of the production crew, though the corresponding faces shown are of professional actors. The names used include art director Paul Inglis, assistant executive producer Andy Surry, and special effects technician Steve Benelisha. The other two Mi6 agent names, Mansur Dimka and Ben Daheer, appear not to be based on anyone in particular. The handle of the YouTube poster posting the video in the film is "vials" which is an anagram for Silva, the last name of the film's villain Raoul Silva. Moreover, the runtime on the YouTube video is 0:07, a reference to James Bond's code number of 007.
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-Script-writer Peter Morgan left the production of 'Skyfall' when development was suspended due to MGM's bankruptcy. Morgan later declared that ideas from his first draft were still retained by the Logan, Purvis & Wade screen-writing team including the film's "big hook". Character and plot details from the script were kept under tight wraps during principal photography with the names and identities of several characters such as those played by Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and veteran Albert Finney being kept a secret for several months. The script was heavily revised by John Logan, even throughout filming. When filming wrapped, it had been revised thirteen times since the third draft.
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-The gun-barrel sequence was re-shot specially for this movie as it was in the previous film. With this third Daniel Craig Bond movie, Craig has still never appeared in a traditional series gun-barrel sequence shown at the start of the film (the last film to use the sequence at the beginning was Meurs un autre jour (2002)). According to Sam Mendes, there was an attempt to put the gun-barrel walk before the pre-titles sequence but it did not work out artistically. It was also put at the end of the film so as to be able mark the Golden Anniversary of the franchise with Bond's 50th Anniversary logo. Daniel Craig is also the first actor to film three different gun-barrel sequences, which depict Bond wearing different suits and having different stances as he shoots. For the first time in the famous gun-barrel sequence, Bond is seen wearing a grey suit rather than a black one. Roger Moore is the other Bond actor to shot more than one gun-barrel sequence as he had filmed one for Vivre et laisser mourir (1973), which was reused in L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974), and eventually would film a second one for L'espion qui m'aimait (1977) that would be reused for the rest of the Bond films starring Moore.
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-The literal English translation of some of this film's foreign language titles have the film known in their respective regions as "Operation Skyfall".
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-Some of the cast have favorites from the film series's history. Playing the villain in this film, Javier Bardem's favorite Bond villain is Jaws from L'espion qui m'aimait (1977) and Moonraker (1979) whilst Bond Girls Bérénice Marlohe and Naomi Harris say their favorite Bond Girls are Famke Janssen from GoldenEye (1995) and Grace Jones from Dangereusement vôtre (1985) respectively.
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-One of just a handful of Bond films to feature a British country home or manor house. Others include The Blayden Safe House in Tuer n'est pas jouer (1987); Shrublands in both Opération Tonnerre (1965) and Jamais plus jamais (1983) and M's home Quarterdeck in Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969).
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-Final Bond consecutive James Bond script written by the screen-writing team of Purvis and Wade. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been penning Bond scripts for 15 years and 5 films starting with Le monde ne suffit pas (1999). They have worked on Meurs un autre jour (2002), Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) and decided to move on after 'Skyfall'.
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-When it came time to casting Silva's mercenaries, director Sam Mendes wanted actors rather than stuntmen. In order to find actors that could fit the physical bill, stunt coordinator Gary Powell set up a stunt training camp. Starting with forty-two men, the group had to learn how to throw punches, react to punches, hold guns and react to being shot. The group was eventually narrowed down to the seven men who looked most natural.
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-Patrice (Ola Rapace)'s gun in the film is a 100 round drum mag semi-automatic "Glock 18" machine pistol-class firearm which holds 100 rounds of ammunition and fires 20 rounds a second. The firearm has an effective range of 50 m (55 yd) and a muzzle velocity of 1,230 ft/s (375 m/s). It's an Austrian gun that was developed at the request EKO Cobra, the Austrian counter-terrorist unit.
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-For the motorbike chase in Turkey, Coca-Cola was sprayed on the tarmac of the streets in Istanbul to keep the bikes from sliding. While Coca-Cola is not an official product placement in the movie there was a Coke Zero marketing campaign that tied in with the movie.
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-For exterior scenes shot in Whitehall, halfway through the chase between James Bond and Raoul Silva, there were 100 background vehicles, 300 film crew, 750 extras, and massive multiple government agency bureaucracy co-operation. Permissions, negotiations and authorizations for the London chase sequence were permitted from such offices of English officialdom as the Westminster City Council, Transport For London (TFL) and TFL Buses, the Met and CHX Police, The London Underground, Network Rail, Herts Traffic Management Systems, the The Ministry of Defence (MOD), The Royal Parks, and The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
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-Seventh James Bond film where the villain resides on an island lair. Raoul Silva's home is Hashima Island, an abandoned island near Nagasaki, Japan. The others were James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962)'s Crab Key island; Largo's Palmyra Estate on the Bahamas Islands in Opération Tonnerre (1965); Blofeld's Japanese island volcano lair in On ne vit que deux fois (1967); Mr Big / Dr Kananga's fictitious Carribean island of San Monique in Vivre et laisser mourir (1973); Elektra King and Renards' Kizkulesi Island (aka The Maiden's Tower) in Turkey's Bosphorus Sea in Le monde ne suffit pas (1999); and perhaps the most famous of all, Scaramanga's island in L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974).
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-Second consecutive James Bond film to have a car chase in the opening sequence. This vehicle chase was originally written and intended for the earlier also Istanbul-lensed Bond film Le monde ne suffit pas (1999) but was scrapped as the film's story had become too expansive. The 'Skyfall' car chase includes a fleet of twelve Land Rover Defenders and sixteen Audi A5's which were all modified and reinforced in different ways to the requirements of the stunt and camera departments. Two of the Defenders had driving 'Pods' fitted to the roof of Eve (Naomie Harris)'s (eight feet above the ground) car allowing her to concentrate on delivering dialogue while being driven by former 'Stig' Ben Collins at 50 mph (80 kph) through the packed streets of Istanbul. Multiple British rally car champion Mark Higgins was Harris' driving stunt double for wide-angle shots of the Land Rover weaving through traffic. Other modifications to the vehicles for the stunt sequence included spread wheels to give greater stability, conversion from manual to automatic, modified engines to enhance engine power and the addition of interior roll cages for protection and safety.
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-The climax of the opening chase sequence takes place at the breathtaking Varda Bridge about an hour's travel out of Adana in southern Turkey. The stone arch structure is also known by a number of other names including Alman Köprüsü (German Viaduct), Koca Köprüthe (Big Viaduct), the Varda Viaduct and the Giaour Dere Viaduct. Construction was started in 1905 and was completed in 1916, the bridge being around 570 feet (174 m) long and 322 feet (98 m) high. The viaduct was originally designed and built by Imperial German engineers for the former Ottoman Empire as part of the Istanbul-Baghdad Railway Project.
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-It has been claimed that 'Skyfall' has used Great Britain and specifically London for filming locations more than any other Bond film in the franchise's history. Several different locations in the city of London were used as interiors and exteriors for the film, some of which would not normally be accessible for filming. London locations included Vauxhall Bridge; Millbank; The Old Vic Tunnels; an underground car park on Great Suffolk Street; Trinity Square; the entrance to Broadgate Tower; The Virgin Active Pool in Canary Wharf; Cadogan Square, The National Portrait Gallery; Parliament Square; Tower Hill; the building roof of the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC); the Smithfield Meat Market; St Bartholomew's Hospital; Charing Cross Underground Station; Greenwich's Old Royal Naval College; Southwark; Whitehall; and London's landmark Trafalgar Square.