-Judi Dench's seventh and final time playing the M character. Dench has played the role of M for seventeen years between 1995 until 2012, her first being in GoldenEye (1995). This record ties with Bernard Lee who played the M character for the same amount of time except Lee appeared in eleven Bond movies whilst Dench appeared in seven. Additionally this puts Dench at the same number of Bond films as Roger Moore, as well as Sean Connery (if one counts the unofficial Bond film Jamais plus jamais (1983)).
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-In October 2012 controversy broke out in the media and the web about the film's homo-erotic overtones from villain character Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) directed towards James Bond (Daniel Craig), Bond traditionally being a devout heterosexual ladies' man. The furor suggests that Silva may be the first ever male Bond Girl and that James Bond may actually be bisexual. However, it's not the first time that a male Bond villain has been suggested to be gay as the Mr Wint and Mr Kidd characters in Les diamants sont éternels (1971) were camp henchmen. 'Skyfall' is the second time in three Daniel Craig films that his James Bond has been tied to a chair and tormented by the main villain. In Casino Royale (2006), Bond had his testicles beaten by Le Chiffre with a knotted rope. In 'Skyfall', Bond's chest is caressed by Raoul Silva, then both his legs are then groped with two hands by Silva. There is an out-of-shot inference that Bond's testicles were fondled between shots, making the scene controversial in a similar way to the scene in Casino Royale (2006).
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-Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) is the eighth major Bond Girl in the official series to be killed by the main Bond villain after falling for the charms of James Bond and then failing/betraying the villain. Often one of the two leading Bond Girls is a sacrificial lamb story element anyway (they're just "Another Girl Who'll Die") and end up dead but not all of them are always killed by the villain, but some are. In 'Skyfall', Sévérine is tortured then shot by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Sévérine's predecessors include Jill Masterton (Shirley Eaton) - painted entirely in gold by Oddjob and/or Goldfinger suffocating her skin in Goldfinger (1964), Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) - fed to piranhas by Blofeld in On ne vit que deux fois (1967), Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) - shot by a gun in a scarecrow of Mr Big / Dr Kananga in Vivre et laisser mourir (1973), Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) - shot by Scaramanga in L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974), Corinne Dufour (Corinne Cléry) - mauled to death by Drax's Doberman dogs after Drax terminates her employment in Moonraker (1979), Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher) - shot by Elliot Carver's assassin Dr. Kaufman in Demain ne meurt jamais (1997), and Solange (Caterina Murino) - tortured, murdered and wrapped in a hammock by Le Chiffre's henchmen in Casino Royale (2006). Those who have survived betraying the villain include Domino (Claudine Auger) in Opération Tonnerre (1965), Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Vivre et laisser mourir (1973), and Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) in Permis de tuer (1989).
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-The first James Bond film where M (or any top-ranking MI6 official) dies on-screen.
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-In 50 years of Bond movies, Skyfall is only the second film in which James Bond suffers a gunshot wound. (He is also shot in Opération Tonnerre (1965) during the Junkanoo chase.)
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-The film's villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is an ex-MI6 agent. It's not the first time that a rogue ex-agent has been the main villain in a Bond movie. GoldenEye (1995)'s main villain was Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, a former fellow agent whose code number had been 006. Meurs un autre jour (2002), Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace (2008) had MI6 turncoats as assistant villains.
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-The London underground tube train crash that occurs when James Bond chases Raoul Silva was filmed at Pinewood Studio's mammoth 007 Stage which has been the filming home to most of the super-scale Bond set pieces of the past. For the crash, filmed on "The Catacombs Set", crew built two full size fabricated replica Tube train carriages, each weighing around 5-7 tons, the real ones weigh around 25-30 tons. The Tube carriages were raised onto a track about 20 feet above the base of the set. Near the ceiling of the set, broken Tube tracks curved downwards with a monorail supporting the carriages from above. The trains were then accelerated on the elevated track guided by the monorail as they veer off the tracks and crash through the catacombs ceiling which was composed of breakaway elements. When the train crashed, it dismantled the majority of the 007 Stage.Digital visual effects were later added in post-production to supplement the practical special effects. It was too dangerous to allow people to stay on the sound stage during the filming of the crash, so eleven remotely-operated cameras were placed around the 007 Stage to cover the crash from various angles.
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-Stunt-man and Bond stunt-double Andy Lister performed the opening sequence's fall from the bridge into the river. Riggers were set up a crane on a train carriage to hold a safety line. Andy then reacted to the gun shot by limply diving backwards off the 300 foot (92 m) drop. This jump stunt is a typical Bondian 'Skyfall' jump stunt synonymous with the series. Skyfall jumps having appeared regularly since L'espion qui m'aimait (1977), with others in Moonraker (1979), Rien que pour vos yeux (1981), Octopussy (1983), Dangereusement vôtre (1985), Tuer n'est pas jouer (1987), Permis de tuer (1989), GoldenEye (1995), Demain ne meurt jamais (1997), Le monde ne suffit pas (1999), Meurs un autre jour (2002) and Quantum of Solace (2008).
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-Just prior to post-production lock-off, about ten minutes of footage were cut out of the film due to the picture's extensively long running time. These scenes and sequences include MI6 agents after the MI6 HQ explosion; a funeral procession for MI6 agents; Sévérine at Shanghai International Airport; an M and Mallory scene; early scenes with M's Assistant Vanessa; Bond running through Regent's Park; and scenes involving Sévérine's activities.
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-A sizable amount of the film's story takes place below London's street surface, an underground environment that is based on what was historically known as "The Churchill Bunker System". During World War II, many government offices were relocated underground for protection from German bombing during "The Blitz". In 'Skyfall', after the headquarters at MI6 are the subject of a terrorist attack, M makes the decision to relocate underground, just like Winston Churchill did during the Second World War.