Aston Martin was initially reluctant to part with two of their cars for the production. The producers had to pay for the Aston Martin, but after the success of the movie, both at the box office and for the company, they never had to spend money on a car again.
The movie was the fastest grossing movie in movie history when it was released, and was entered into the Guiness Book of World Records.
Though he had been considered for, but never appeared in a Bond movie, Sir Michael Caine was the first person to hear the completed score for this movie. After he and roommate Terence Stamp were ejected from their apartment, Caine asked friend John Barry if he could use the spare bedroom at Barry's London residence. As they were good friends, Barry agreed and so for several months, Caine crashed with Barry and was there the sleepless night he completed his iconic score. At breakfast the following morning, Barry played his composition for Caine, the first time he'd performed it for anybody.
When Dame Shirley Bassey recorded the theme song, she was singing as the opening credits were running on a screen in front of her, so that she could match the vocals. When she hit her final high note, the titles kept running and she was forced to hold the note until she almost passed out. (This echoes the experience of Sir Tom Jones when recording the Thunderball (1965) theme.) She has told the story that she only managed to hold the note after removing a restricting bustier she was wearing.
First appearance of a laser beam in a 007 movie. In the original script, the scene had a spinning buzzsaw (as in the novel) until it was decided that such an image had become commonplace and unoriginal.
Michael G. Wilson: The future Bond producer played a South Korean soldier at Fort Knox. This is the first of Wilson's cameos in the films. He has appeared in every movie from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) to Skyfall (2012).
Alf Joint: The stuntman played Capungo, the henchman in the opening sequence, when the original actor became unavailable at the last minute. This was because he was a cat burglar, and had just been arrested. Joint was burned on the leg by a smoldering coil while filming this pre-credit sequence.
Bob Simmons: The series regular stuntman is the actor appearing as James Bond in the opening gun barrel sequence. The same footage was used in Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963).