When Bay is about to kill the man that was hanging on the movie banner, look carefully at the names on the banner. The names are Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the producers of the Bond movies.

During the chess game between Kronsteen and McAdams, the position that appears on the board was taken from a real game played between Boris Spassky and David Bronstein in 1960, the game is well known amongst chess players all over the world, Spassky won the game in brilliant fashion, and it was his actual moves that Kronsteen plays during the end of the game.

On the train passing Bond is an old man with a walking stick, the man is Ian Fleming, the writer of the Bond books.

Originally, "Thunderball" was to follow "Dr. No." Then, the producers read a list of then-President Kennedy's top ten favorite books, and among them was "From Russia With Love." They decided to make that film next to cash in on this endorsement.

The actor playing the Bond double strangled by Red Grant in the pre-credits sequence naturally resembled Sean Connery so much that the scene was re-shot with another actor with a moustache.

There have been some problems with the shooting of the rat scene in the Istanbul sewers. At first, white lab rats were considered. In order to make them brown, they were coated with chocolate powder; but the rats found the substance too delicious and spent their shots licking each other off. Finally, real rats were used, but they went amok in the studio. Sean Connery relieved the situation by simply opening the door.

When Bond and Sylvia are in the boat with their picnic another boat goes past and says something. Bond then says something to Sylvia. They have the radio on and listen to the song that is playing. It is the movie's theme song.

According to the book "Death of a President" by William Raymond Manchester, this was the last motion picture John F. Kennedy ever saw, on 20 November 1963, in the White House.

The wife of producer Harry Saltzman can be seen leaning out the window on the Orient Express, next to the car in which Robert Shaw ("Red Grant") was riding.