Trivia

The scene where the Cloak of Levitation wipes away Strange's tears was improvised on set. It was a suggestion Benedict Cumberbatch made to the crew, who liked it enough to create it.

While filming, Benedict Cumberbatch walked into a comic book store, in full costume, and bought an actual Doctor Strange comic.

Doctor Strange's creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, based his appearance on Hollywood actor Vincent Price. The character even bears the middle name of Vincent.

Mads Mikkelsen admitted that with all the computer-generated imagery he got a bit lost on how to film his scenes, especially during the Mirror Dimension scenes.

In designing the Eye of Agamotto, creator of Dr. Strange Steve Ditko drew inspiration from the real world charm The All Seeing Eye of the Buddha, known among the Buddhists as The Amulet of Snail Martyrs, a Nepali symbol meant to protect its wearer from evil.

Benedict Cumberbatch states that the spiritualism of Doctor Strange is what appeals to him the most about the role. "I'm very excited about that spiritual dimension. It's something that's been a huge part of my life. I meditate a lot, that's a huge tool in trying to calm myself, get away from the crazy circus of it all, have a focused mind as well as be a kinder, considerate person in the world," said Cumberbatch.

In the comics, Stephen Strange had a younger sister named Donna, who died when he was young, and motivated him into becoming a doctor. Lulu Wilson was cast as Donna in the film and shot some scenes, but they were cut out for running time purposes.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank served as a science consultant on the film, to advise on how to portray changes in the human experience of space and time. Frank also helped Marvel conceive their ideas for the multiverse, as well as suggest dialogue and belief stances for the characters.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is a 5th Degree Black Belt in karate, so his movements are second nature in fighting.

The building number seen in the portal to New York City was 177A Bleecker Street, the location of the Sanctum Sanctorum. This is NOT a reference to Sherlock Holmes' (whom Benedict Cumberbatch also portrays) traditional residence, 221B Baker street. It is actually the address of a townhouse apartment shared by Marvel comic book writers Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas in the 60s, the latter of whom wrote several Doctor Strange stories, though NOT the 1963 issue of Strange Tales that revealed the address as 177A Bleecker.

When Dr Strange begins to experiment with the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Spells in the Book of Cagliostro, the focus of his practice is an apple, symbolically the representation of Forbidden Knowledge.

Originally, the film was to feature a prologue set in CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, aka the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and would feature a discussion on parallel dimensions. The filmmakers felt this was too scientific for a magic-based story, and removed it.

 

According to Kevin Feige, the concept of magic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is inspired by Matrix (1999) and the fantasy works of Stanley Kubrick and Hayao Miyazaki. "Have you watched the Cosmos (1980) series? That's magic, the quantum physics. If somebody knew how to tap into that stuff, what's the difference between that and magic? You don't get into it in Harry Potter, but if a scientist went to Hogwarts, he'd find out how some of that stuff is happening! We're not going to spend a lot of time on it, but there will be some of that, particularly for a character like Doctor Strange, who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds. And sometimes there won't be an answer! Sometimes he'll want an answer--'How is this happening?'--and nothing," said Feige.