Trivia: In his regular cameo role, producer Michael G. Wilson appears in the audience at the Opera which Bond and Kara attend in Vienna. He can be seen sitting next-but-one to Saunders.
Trivia: After Bond returns to London (when he's completed his mission in Eastern Europe), there's an "establishing" shot of a London street scene. Look closely at the placards behind the newspaper vendor. One of the placards says "BLAZING JEEP AT 2,000 FEET" - a reference to the Jeep on fire and going over a cliff in the pre-title sequence, perhaps?
Trivia: The conductor of the orchestra at the end of the movie is James Bond music composer, John Barry. (02:00:36)
Trivia: This movie is based on the short story by Ian Fleming. Once Dalton has spoken the words "Living Daylights," the film departs from the original.
Trivia: The Bratislava Academy of Music, which is shown in the movie, is in reality the Vienna People's Opera.
Trivia: Actor Walter Gotell (a recurring character as General Gogol, head of the KGB) was intended to be a lead character in this story. He was too ill at the time, so his part was given to actor John Rhys-Davies, and the character was renamed. Gotell/Gogol only makes a brief appearance at the end of the picture, being introduced to Bond's paramour. Gotell made his first appearance in the James Bond series as a villain's henchman ("Morenzy") in 1963's From Russia, With Love. He would play "Gogol" in most of the Roger Moore Bonds, starting with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). The Living Daylights was his last appearance in the series. He passed away ten years later.
Trivia: After Roger Moore 'retired' from the role of 007 following 1985's "View To A Kill", the search was on for the new James Bond. Three actors were shortlisted to the extent of screen testing: Sam Neill (who had impressed the Bond team in "Reilly, Ace of Spies"); Pierce Brosnan (likewise in "Remington Steele") and Timothy Dalton. Sam Neill's chance was vetoed by Cubby Broccoli (though the screen test can be seen in the DVD Extra Features) and Pierce Brosnan's chance was lost when the makers of Remington Steele refused to release him from his contract. That left Timothy Dalton, who got his chance after he'd decided against being Bond in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Dalton was 24 in 1968, and thought himself "too young" to play 007.
Trivia: During the raid on the Soviet base in Afghanistan, Bond's pal (Kamran Shah) uses a bulldozer to deflect machine-gun fire. The bullet hits on the steel scoop play a short segment of the "James Bond Theme" tune. (01:46:20)
Trivia: The "Red Cross" helicopter seen in this movie (registration G-HUEY) has an interesting history of its own. It is a Bell UH-1H that originally belonged to the Argentinean Army, and was captured by British Forces at Port Stanley during the 1982 war in the Falkland Islands.
Trivia: As Maryam d'Abo gets into the car after going back for her cello she clouts Timothy Dalton around the head with it. (00:42:00)
Trivia: At the film's premiere in the UK, a reporter working for Children's TV conducted a straw poll among young Bond fans as to who they thought would be a suitable Bond Girl. The winner was 1980s pop singer/page 3 model Samantha Fox.
Trivia: During filming at Pinewood Studios, the set was visited by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Both Charles and Diana had attended previous Bond premieres in aid of The Prince's Trust and the royal couple decided to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the movies are made. Throughout the visit, Diana playfully crashed a mock bottle used for stunts over her husband's head. A photograph of the prank made newspapers all over the world. Charles, it was reported, was shaken but not stirred.
Trivia: In the MI5 safe house, in the kitchen we see a large parrot flying around. This was the exact same parrot as the one at the end of "For Your Eyes Only", which speaks to Margaret Thatcher as Bond.
Trivia: This was the last James Bond film for which John Barry provided the music score.
Trivia: When Bond is fighting the assassin in the jeep in the pre-credits sequence, a car comes towards the jeep and we see who is in the car: a man with his wife and daughter. This man had previously played one of Gonzales' henchmen who chased Bond and Melina in "For Your Eyes Only" (1981). His name is Michel Julienne, and he is the son of the noted stunt driver Rémy Julienne and also a stunt driver himself.
Trivia: Maryam d'Abo, who plays Kara Milovy, had previously auditioned for the role of Pola Ivanova in "A View to a Kill" (1985).
Trivia: After James has got rid of the bad guy from the plane by cutting his bootlace you can see a quick shot of the stuntman being thrown around by the turbulence. what it doesn't show is that due to the turbulence the stuntman actually got thrown against the underside of the plane with such force that it knocked him out, and if it hadn't been for the other safety men on the plane watching closely and diving out the plane after him to pull his emergency chute he could have died.
Trivia: Producer Albert R. Broccoli's daughter Barbara makes a cameo as a soldier during the snow sequence.
Chosen answer: She could have been let go off screen once it was clear that Bond wasn't going to kill Pushkin, so they could formulate the plan in secret.
Captain Defenestrator