-Second James Bond movie to be edited by Stuart Baird, after Casino Royale (2006). Also the second Bond film for production designer Dennis Gassner whose first was Quantum of Solace (2008). Third Bond movie as Stunt Coordinator for Gary Powell, who has worked in other stunt positions on four other bond films beginning with GoldenEye (1995). Also the seventh Bond film as Special Effects Supervisor for Chris Corbould whose tally totals thirteen Bond movies starting with L'espion qui m'aimait (1977).
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-Danny Boyle was once erroneously touted in the media as having being asked to direct this film. One of this film's main Bond girls, Naomie Harris, appeared in Boyle's 28 jours plus tard (2002) which was released in the same year as the last Bond film with a black Bond girl, Meurs un autre jour (2002). Coincidentally, Boyle ended up directing the James Bond short with Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth II which opened the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012).
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-While some Bond films have original titles that do not come from the work of author Ian Fleming, 'Skyfall' is the first original title that has already pre-existed as the title of other fictional works.

-'Skyfall' is also the title of a 1966 sci-fi novel by Harry Harrison, a 1987 novel by Thomas Block, a 2004 novel in the "Saga of the Skolian Empire" sci-fi series by Catherine Asaro, a 2007 novel by Anthony Eaton in the fantasy action "Darklands Trilogy", and also the name of a 2002 Norweigan film Himmelfall (2002), its literal English translation being "Falling Sky" or "The Sky Is Falling Down".
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-The first James Bond film to be released in the IMAX format. Unlike most films blown up for an IMAX release, the film did not go through their DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, as cinematographer Roger Deakins thought that the film's image quality was high enough to make it unnecessary. Deakins has said they "...shot 2.35:1 [aspect ratio] but because of the size of the chip, you've got so much space top and bottom that basically I shot it for both formats...the IMAX was clean and the image quality is fantastic because you're using the full size of the chip. So I had seen a lot of tests and was blown away by the IMAX. We did a 4K finish and it's down rez'd to 2K after that. It quite surprised me, the fantastic quality." Films shot in IMAX have an aspect ratio of 1.44.1 which takes up the entire IMAX screen. Skyfall wasn't shot in IMAX, but the aspect ratio of the IMAX 'Skyfall' prints is 1.90.1 compared to standard theater 'Skyfall' prints which have an aspect ratio of 2.40.1. The IMAX image is 26% larger at the top and bottom of the frame than the screen image in conventional theaters thereby giving audiences a taller depth of field to view."
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-The passport used by Daniel Craig was not created by the props department, but an authentic document as issued by the British Home Office, according to producer Michael G. Wilson. Everything from the paper, print, photograph and jacket are entirely genuine on James Bond's 'official passport'. However, as a security measure, the passport is encoded with information that would instantly flag its improper use in any official transaction. The actual details shown on Bond's passport in the film are as follows: Name = John Adam Bryce; Date of Birth = 16th December 1968; Sex = Male; Place of Birth = London; Date of Issue = 22nd June 2012; and Expiry Date = 22nd August 2029.
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-This film marks the return of title designer Daniel Kleinman who did the opening titles and gun-barrel sequences from GoldenEye (1995) to Casino Royale (2006). In the previous film, Quantum of Solace (2008), Kleinman was replaced by US special effects company MK12. 'Skyfall' is Kleinman's sixth collaboration as title designer in the series and his second one in a Bond film starring Daniel Craig.
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-Adele's title song "Skyfall" is the first ever James Bond theme to debut in the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, entering at No. #8. It's the 7th Bond song to reach the US Top 10 and the 13th to reach the US Top 100. It's the first to chart in the US Top 10 in a decade, the last time being Madonna's Meurs un autre jour (2002) song in 2002. Adele's song sold 261,000 copies in the USA in its first three days. The song debuted in the UK Singles Chart at No. #4 within just 48 hours of release and then went to No. #2 within a week, tying with the previous record holder, Duran Duran's "Dangereusement vôtre (1985) (Dance into the Fire)" as the highest ever charting Bond song in UK singles history. (J'aime beaucoup cette chanson)The song sold 84,000 copies in the UK in its first two days and had sold 92,000 copies within a week. The song went to No. #1 on the UK iTunes chart within 10 hours. On its first day of release worldwide, the song hit the Top 10 on the iTunes Charts in 21 countries. Of those, it also went to Number #1 in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
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-First James Bond movie to have two separate train action sequences involving different trains. Bons baisers de Russie (1963), Vivre et laisser mourir (1973), L'espion qui m'aimait (1977), Octopussy (1983) and GoldenEye (1995) all had just the one locomotive. 'Skyfall' is also the second James Bond movie to have a roof-top fight on a train, the first was Octopussy (1983). Moreover, the Charing Cross Underground Station was used for location shooting for the Underground stations seen in the movie: Temple and Westminster.
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-The film was originally going to be shot in six countries but budget cutbacks in January 2012 resulted in filming primarily taking place in England, on location and in studio. Additional shooting was set in Scotland, Turkey and China. Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands replaced Duntrune Castle in Argyll, Scotland as the location for the film's climatic action scenes though some of that was actually filmed at Surrey's Hankley Common in England. Scenes planned to be originally shot in India or South Africa were instead filmed in Turkey. In the end, the picture was filmed in five countries: England, Scotland, China, Turkey and Japan. In Japan, just a small amount of filming was done on Hashima Island.
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-At two seconds shy of 143 minutes, this is the second longest Bond movie of all time, the longest being Casino Royale (2006) at 144 minutes. The third longest running time for a Bond movie is Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969) which runs 142 minutes.
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-'Skyfall' started shooting in 2011 which was the 30th year that casting director Debbie McWilliams had being working on the series. McWilliams first Bond movie was Rien que pour vos yeux (1981) in 1981. For 'Skyfall', McWilliams coordinated casting sessions that took place in various locations all around the world which included, amongst others, Athens, Greece; Beijing and Shanghai in China; Istanbul, Turkey; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Fourth James Bond movie to film in Scotland after Bons baisers de Russie (1963) (various locations in the Argyll and Bute region), L'espion qui m'aimait (1977) (the Faslane naval base) and Le monde ne suffit pas (1999) (Eilean Donan Castle at Kyle of Lochalsh in the Highlands). 'Skyfall' is actually the fifth Bond film to shoot in Scotland if including the unofficial Casino Royale (1967) which shoot in Killin, Stirling. The first actor to play James Bond on the big screen was a Scot, Sean Connery. The Scottish Dalness Estate once belonged to the Fleming family and author Ian Fleming loved the Scottish region so much that he gave James Bond a Scottish genealogical lineage, the character's father Andrew coming from Glencoe where 'Skyfall' filmed alongside the Buachaille Etive Mor mountain. In Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969), James Bond was seen wearing a kilt.
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-Sixth appearance in the official James Bond series of the classic silver-birch Aston Martin DB5 car. The film marks the return of the vehicle which first appeared in Goldfinger (1964) and last appeared in Casino Royale (2006). The DB5 has also appeared in Opération Tonnerre (1965), GoldenEye (1995) and Demain ne meurt jamais (1997). The car also features in the James Bond video-games 007: Agent Under Fire (2001), 007 Racing (2000), James Bond 007: Blood Stone (2010) and Bons baisers de russie (2005) but not in the 'Skyfall' tie-in video-game 007 Legends (2012) which has instead the Aston Martin DBS. The license plate number of the DB5 in 'Skyfall' is BMT 216A, the same as it was in Goldfinger (1964) and Opération Tonnerre (1965), the complex the car drives out of in 'Skyfall' resembling that from Goldfinger (1964). The famous DB series of Aston Martin cars is named after Sir David Brown. Brown was an entrepreneur, adventurer, and chairman of Aston Martin from the late 1940s to the 1970s.
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-Greek model-actress Tonia Sotiropoulou who appears as a minor Bond Girl early in the movie had auditioned for the leading Bond Girl role of Sévérine but lost out to Bérénice Marlohe. After Casting Director Debbie McWilliams suggested that the production might be able to find another part for her, her management company Back Door Management resubmitted her for the film and she was successful. Tonia's Bond Girl character in the film has no name and is billed in the credits only as "Bond's Lover". Moreover, Sotiropoulou's brief role in the film is entirely mute making her the first Bond Girl to visibly consummate a relationship with Bond on screen (as opposed to one that is only implied) without actually saying even one word on screen.
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-For a long time in development and pre-production "Skyfall" was simply known as "Bond 23". Reportedly, other titles that were considered for the movie were "A Killing Moon" and "Once Upon a Spy" and "Silver Bullet." False rumored titles that were touted in the media during 2011 were 'Carte Blanche' and 'Red Sky at Night'. Previously, in 2010, it was reported that a competition would run to pick a title for this film from the remaining Ian Fleming story titles, the two most popular being 'Risico' and 'The Property of a Lady'. In addition, 'The Hildebrand Rarity' had also been touted as a possible title.

-The Royal World Premiere was held on Tuesday 23rd October 2012 at Royal Albert Hall in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker-Bowles). At the request of HRH Prince Charles, the Gala Charity Premiere Benefit aided the support of former and current serving members of Britain's three intelligence agencies, GCHQ, the Security Service, and the Secret Intelligence Service. Prince Charles is England's Royal Patron of the Intelligence Services. Also in attendance were director Sam Mendes, and actors Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench. The only ever previous Bond World Premiere to be held at the Royal Albert Hall was for the franchise's 40th Anniversary where Meurs un autre jour (2002) debuted. The gala premiere raised UK £300,000+ in aid of the Prince's chosen charities.
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-The movie's soundtrack composed by Thomas Newman features the most tracks (30) ever for a James Bond film score. The previous record holder in the official series had been Casino Royale (2006) with 25 whilst next is Quantum of Solace (2008) with 24. The previous record holder for any Bond movie and now second is the unofficial Jamais plus jamais (1983) which has 26 tracks. The 'Skyfall' album is the second time that a James Bond soundtrack has not featured the title song (which is "Skyfall" sung by Adele). The first time was Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" not appearing on the Casino Royale (2006) soundtrack. Skyfall's end titles utilize composer David Arnold's arrangement ("The Name's Bond... James Bond") of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" but this also does not feature on the soundtrack. Skyfall's film's score also contains interpolations of Monty Norman's original "James Bond Theme". The whole score on the soundtrack is composed and conducted by Thomas Newman except for the "Komodo Dragon" track which is an instrumental interpolation of the film's "Skyfall" theme song. "Skyfall" is also the first Daniel Craig Bond film to make use of Norman's original "James Bond Theme" throughout the entire film (in "Casino Royale" the fully orchestrated version was played during the end credits and in Quantum of Solace (2008) during the gun barrel sequence and at the start of the end credits).
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-5th October 2012 was "Global James Bond Day". It was created by the 'Skyfall' production to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series and as a promotional tie-in for the release of 'Skyfall'. According to the official website 'Global James Bond Day' featured "Worldwide events celebrating Bond's golden anniversary [and] include[d] a global online and live charity auction event organized by Christie's in London, a global survey to discover the favorite Bond film country by country, a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, a Music of Bond night in Los Angeles hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond Style [in Toronto]".
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-First James Bond film to feature MGM's new 2012 logo. The first James Bond movie to be released with the MGM Lion logo at the beginning was Octopussy (1983). MGM merged with United Artists in 1982, the year before the release of that movie which was the first Bond movie distributed by the then new company, MGM/UA Distribution Co.
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-Actor Albert Finney has said he remembers seeing the first James Bond movie James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962). Other cast members were working actors in film and TV when James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962) was in theaters. Actress Judi Dench, who plays M, was appearing as Anya in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1962) whilst Finney's closest film role to the release date of James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962) was as another great lover, Tom Jones: de l'alcôve à la potence (1963), in which he starred with Diane Cilento, who was once married to cinema's first James Bond Sean Connery who was actually the original choice to play the Kincaid character. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said that her father, pioneer Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, had been keen to work with Finney but the opportunity never arose.
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-The promotional tie-in with Heineken Lager Beer for this movie has been valued at being (UK) £28 million (= US $45 million). The product placement caused a controversy in the media prior to release, criticism being made for lacking integrity, blatant commercialization with Daniel Craig actually appearing in a Heineken ad and being disrespectful to Bond's traditional drink, the shaken and stirred martini. Producer Michael G. Wilson and actor Daniel Craig defended the financing by indicating that the Bond films cost a lot of money to make and 'Skyfall' could not be completed without this support; that many of the product placements are based around supply of the products with technical support and the fact that James Bond is still seen drinking a Vodka Martini in 'Skyfall'.
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-First time that an Academy Award winning director (Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999))) has directed a James Bond movie. The first Bond film seen by Mendes was Vivre et laisser mourir (1973) whilst his favorite is Bons baisers de Russie (1963). During pre-production, Mendes was originally hired as a consultant during the MGM bankruptcy period so as to avoid a direct connection payment to Mendes from having been classified as a bona fide director to the production, and as such requiring an official director's payment. Reportedly, Mendes was offered the director's job at party by Daniel Craig. A meeting was then arranged for Mendes with the producers and things rolled on from there. As a boy, Mendes owned a die-cast Dinky Toys model car of Bond's Aston Martin DB5 car which inspired him to include the vehicle in the film. Around the time of Casino Royale (2006), Mendes originally thought Craig was miscast as Bond. Mendes told 'Metro': "I was one of the people who said I didn't think he was the right casting. At the time, I was asked in an interview and I said, "I'm not sure, I would advise him not to do it". With a rating of PG-13, this is also Mendes' first non-R-rated film.
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-Third consecutive James Bond film dealing with terrorism. The central type of terrorism depicted in 'Skyfall' is cyberterrorism. In an interview in the 'Skyfall' tie-in documentary Everything or Nothing (2012), producer Barbara Broccoli commented on how 9/11 made the producers think about doing something more serious and that it might be time to move on from the Pierce Brosnan style of Bond films. In another interview, Broccoli added: "In terms of 9/11, we thought Meurs un autre jour (2002) had become too fantastical. That's something that's happened in previous Bond films along the way. There comes a time when you have to recalibrate the tone of the films to fit the times we live in".
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-Second Daniel Craig James Bond film to feature a casino and the first for him since Casino Royale (2006), Craig being notable for having debuted in this 'Casino' titled Bond film. Not every Bond movie has a casino sequence but 'Skyfall' joins the ranks in the official series of those that have: James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962), Opération Tonnerre (1965), Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969), Les diamants sont éternels (1971), L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974), Rien que pour vos yeux (1981), Permis de tuer (1989), GoldenEye (1995), Le monde ne suffit pas (1999) and Casino Royale (2006). All the unofficial Bond films, Casino Royale (1967), Jamais plus jamais (1983) and Climax!: Casino Royale (1954), have all featured a casino. 'Skyfall' is the first Bond movie since L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974) to feature a casino in Asia. Its name is "The Golden Dragon Casino" and it's a floating-casino in Macau, China and is based on the actual real-life Macau floating casino, "The Macau Palace".

-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.

-The film's "Skyfall" title is not a word taken from any Ian Fleming James Bond story. The film's screen-writing team of Purvis & Wade thought up the film's "Skyfall" title at two in the morning. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have said: "We needed a haunting place name. I just plucked it out of the air, and it turned out to be something that struck a chord with the filmmakers". 'Skyfall' is the only ever Bond film where the team provided the film's title. Le monde ne suffit pas (1999)'s title was taken from a true life Bond family motto and was mentioned by Ian Fleming in the novel of Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969) whilst the title of Meurs un autre jour (2002) was taken from a phrase in A.E. Housman's poem "A Shropshire Lad". Both Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were titles taken from original Ian Fleming stories.
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-Daniel Craig performed many of his own stunts including the signature roof-top fight on the top of a moving train traveling at 50 kph (31 mph) during the film's opening sequence. Producer Barbara Broccoli has said: "Daniel contributes a great deal to designing the action and the fights in particular and he's the one who really pulls it off, because he wants to do as much of it as he possibly can. We were in Turkey for the train sequence and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time; he and Ola were fighting on the roof of a moving train and the moves that they were doing were just heart stopping. Daniel's the reason why the action works as well as it does because he sells it, he's up there and I think audiences know that."
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-The Paddock Tank (aka the Exterior Tank) at Pinewood Studios doubled as the exterior of the Shanghai Golden Dragon Casino. The set was lit by three-hundred floating lanterns and two thirty-foot high dragon heads. Twelve artisans were flown in from China to create the authentic structures. They were made from wound steel cables, silk fabric and lit from within by 400 light bulbs.
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-When Q delivers the Walther PPK & passport to Bond in the National Gallery in London, the painting behind him is Joseph Wright of Derby's 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)', featuring a natural philosopher - a forerunner to a modern scientist - demonstrating an experiment to curious onlookers. This fits Q's role as scientific research/development for SIS/MI6 and 007.
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-Fourth time in an official Bond movie that an M character's home has been seen. The first time was M (Bernard Lee)'s manor Quarterdeck in Au service secret de Sa Majesté (1969). The 2nd & 3rd times followed much later with M (Judi Dench)'s homes in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). 'Skyfall' is the fifth time if one counts the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) which also showed an M character's home.
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-Stuntman Gary Powell and other members of his family have worked on every EON Productions official series Bond movie since James Bond 007 contre Dr. No (1962). Father and uncle Nosher Powell and Dinny Powell worked on all the early 60s and 70s Bonds with Sean Connery and George Lazenby; brother Greg Powell worked on the 70s and 80s Bonds with Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton whilst Gary has worked on all the 90s and 00s Bonds with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig as well as 'Skyfall', the first Bond movie of the 2010s.
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-'Skyfall' represents the 10th Anniversary of the now regular "Bond On Set" book, a photo record of the filming of a Bond movie, with pictures that are shot by Bond regular stills photographer Greg Williams. The 'Skyfall' "Bond On Set" book is the fourth to be published, the first was in 2002 with the Meurs un autre jour (2002) "Bond On Set" book. Prior to this, there had been "Making of" books for Bond films such as for GoldenEye (1995) and Demain ne meurt jamais (1997).
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-With his casting, Javier Bardem becomes the second Academy Award winner to play a major Bond villain. The first was Christopher Walken in Dangereusement vôtre (1985) who had won an Oscar for Voyage au bout de l'enfer (1978). Both Academy Awards were for Best Supporting Actor, Bardem's statuette was for No country for old men - Non, ce pays n'est pas pour le vieil homme (2007). Bardem is not the only actor in 'Skyfall' to have a Best Supporting Acting Oscar, Judi Dench has one for Shakespeare in Love (1998).

 
-The most successful ever James Bond movie at the international box-office in the official franchise's film history. Previously, 'Skyfall' grossed $100 million at the international box-office in its first week. 'Skyfall' also had the biggest ever opening weekend at the box-office for a Bond film in Britain.
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-Third James Bond movie to film in Japan. 'Skyfall' used Hashima Island for shooting villain Raoul Silva's island lair. The first Bond Bond film to lens in Japan where the largest amount of filming was done was for On ne vit que deux fois (1967). The second was for L'espion qui m'aimait (1977) where filming was done there to get shots of exotic fish in Okinawa.
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-Actor Javier Bardem has described his Raoul Silva villain character as "An angel of death - a very clean shaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. He has a very personal objective - he's not trying to destroy the world. And he is on a straight line to that objective:he is a man seeking revenge. It's about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate." Bardem has also explained about finding the character inside the villain: "It's always about who's the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him."
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-A number of the actors playing smaller parts in the movie never received a script to work with due to the production's strict secrecy protocols, so stringent and tight, that they reflect real life intelligence espionage. Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou did not know what she would be doing on the film until the time her scenes were shot. She commented, "I was one of the people who never had a script. I just got told what I'd be doing on the set by the director. They have to be so careful. You have quite strict contracts that say you can't say anything about the plot. And everyone respects that."
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-At the film's Spanish Premiere at Madrid's Espanol Theatre on 29th October 2012, a number of the big red carpet stars of the film including Javier Bardem held posters in protest against the dismissal of theater workers during the film's premiere.
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-The first James Bond film to be shot entirely using digital cinematography. Previously only part of one scene in Quantum of Solace (2008) was shot digitally. It is also the first film to use the Arri Alexa Studio camera, which cinematographer Roger Deakins selected because, unlike the other Alexa models, it has an optical viewfinder. It is also Deakins' second digitally-shot film, after Time Out (2011), on which he also used the Alexa.
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-The chopper seen at the end of the movie is an AgustaWestland Merlin AW101 helicopter. An Agusta Westland Merlin AW139 helicopter was seen in the opening "Happy and Glorious" sequence of the 2012 London Olympics (see London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012)) where stuntmen Mark Sutton and Gary Connery took a skyfall jump in the guise of being James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II respectively.