In this movie's conclusion, Bond uses his shoelaces to create a Prusik knot, attaching himself to his climbing rope so he can ascend a mountain. This technique, which is indeed possible to do with shoelaces, was invented by Austrian mountaineer Karl Prusik, and is common amongst climbers. The Prusik knot celebrated its 50th anniversary the year this movie was released, having first appeared in an Austrian mountaineering manual for rope ascending in 1931.
Only Bond movie to date in the official franchise not to feature M. It was the first Bond movie not to feature Bernard Lee as M, who had played the role in the previous eleven movies in the franchise. Lee died of stomach cancer on January 16, 1981, after the filming of this movie had started, but before his scenes were shot. Although Bernard Lee was dying of stomach cancer, he did try to film at least one scene in the movie, but in the end, it was too much for him, and he had to bow out. He died not long afterward. As a result, Q's role in this movie was slightly expanded to fill the gap. As such, several scenes, originally intended to include M, were re-written with Q, (for example, the confessional scene). As a mark of respect, producer Albert R. Broccoli refused to re-cast the role, changing the script to say that M was on leave. Climax! (1954) season one, episode three, "Casino Royale" also did not feature M.
23-year-old stuntman Paolo Rigoni died during the filming of the bobsled chase. This was due to a poorly designed track. Rigoni was not the only one to lose his life there, however. During an actual competition another bobsledder was killed at the same exact spot. The track was later modified for a less severe turn.
A line of dialogue had to be cut from the opening helicopter sequence for legal reasons. The bald man could not be called "Blofeld", as Kevin McClory had won a court case several years previous, and owned the rights to the use of "S.P.E.C.T.R.E.", and "Ernst Stavro Blofeld". Unofficially disposing of Blofeld so early in this movie was Albert R. Broccoli's way of telling McClory that the success of 007 did not depend on him, and he got rid of Blofeld (supposedly) once and for all. McClory produced and released the unofficial Bond movie, Never Say Never Again (1983), in which Blofeld was played by Max von Sydow. Blofeld did not appear in an EON produced Bond movie again until Spectre (2015), after the rights matter was finally settled in 2013.
The epitaph in the opening scene of Bond's wife's tombstone is, "we have all the time in the world", his last words to her in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and title song.
Robbin Young: The winner of the "Be a James Bond Girl" competition as Girl in Flowershop. Playboy Magazine, which had had a long association with James Bond, ran a competition in their magazine for a reader to become a Bond Girl in 1980. The prize was a cameo in this movie and a photo-spread in the magazine. Young appeared in the flower shop scene when motorbikes crash into the florist's front window. Playboy published some of the James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming including "The Hildebrand Rarity" in 1960 while the James Bond character was seen reading a copy of the magazine in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Bond has a Playboy Club membership card in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
Victor Tourjansky: The Italian second unit director as Man with Glass in his last appearance after The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).
John Glen: [pigeon] Bond almost loses his footing during his climb to the monastery when a pigeon from a nest unexpectedly flies in his face.
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