Trivia: Kubrick originally wanted to make this a serious drama. During the screenwriting process he was confronted again and again with situations that were completely truthful and serious, yet he was afraid and audience would laugh at how absurd it is. Such as general Turgeson referring to general Ripper's sending an entire bomb wing to obliterate Russia as "Overextending his authority". He eventually figured out that the only way to write it would be as a comedy.
Trivia: "Dr. Strangelove's" release in the United States was delayed due to the assassination of President Kennedy. The movie reflects this in an unusual and nearly undetectable dub job. After going over the contents of the survival kits on board the B-52, Major Kong is heard to say "A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff." "Vegas" was dubbed in for "Dallas", which Major Kong actually says, after the assassination.
Trivia: The shot where General Turgidson slips, falls, rolls and gets back onto his feet was unplanned. George C. Scott was so seamless in keeping in dialog that Kubrick decided to keep the shot as is.
Trivia: The airport in the aerial photograph of "Burpleson Air Force Base" is none other than Heathrow.
Trivia: Peter Sellers was suppose to also play the role of Major Kong. Depending on what story you read because Mr. Sellers either A) could not master a Texan accent or B) broke his leg, Stanley Kubrick brought in Slim Pickens to play the role of Major Kong.
Trivia: The ending was originally going to show a pie fight the War Room. Hence you see a long table that contains numerous pies. The scene was filmed but then cut from the final print. Stanley Kubrick decided not to let the black comedy devolve into a slapstick ending.
Trivia: Stanley Kubrick often used the combination of number '114' in his work. The name of the message decoder in this film is CRM-114.
Trivia: In later interviews, Stanley Kubrick revealed that George C. Scott did not want to portray General Buck Turgidson as a campy character in the film; he very much wanted to play Turgidson straight and serious (just as Kubrick had originally envisioned the entire film). Kubrick agreed and filmed Scott playing the role straight, but only on the condition that Scott rehearse the role as over-the-top camp. Scott agreed to camp it up in rehearsal only if the cameras weren't rolling, and Kubrick assured him they weren't rolling. However, Kubrick lied and filmed the campy rehearsals, as well, which were used in the finished film. As a result Scott refused to work with Kubrick again.
Trivia: Even though Sterling Hayden plays a paranoid man who fears communists, he was himself an American Communist Party member.
Trivia: The glove that Peter Sellers wore for Dr Strangelove actually belonged to Stanley Kubrick, who used it (and the other in the pair) to safely handle and move studio lights, which could become very hot.
Trivia: The scene with Peter Sellers and Sterling Hayden was all adlibbed. Only Hayden had learned his lines, but Sellers did not and all his lines were made up on the spot. One only has to look at Hayden's face that he has no idea what is coming next.
Suggested correction: There is no evidence that any of the scenes or dialogue between Sellers and Hayden was unscripted or ad-libbed at the time of shooting. Sellers was allowed by Kubrick to ad lib during rehearsals, and some of these were incorporated into the screenplay, but all the actors followed the script during shooting.