Trivia: The orginal title for this film was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death" which was changed because it sounded too foreboding.
Trivia: Not a mistake, just something that's not immediately obvious: When they arrive at the plane after the club scene, the man that walks them to the plane is Dan Aykroyd.
Trivia: The 'chilled monkey brains' served during the dinner scene at the Palace were made from custard and raspberry sauce.
Trivia: A working title during preproduction was 'Raiders of the Temple of Death' before it was decided to base the title scheme around Indiana Jones (and of course "Death" was later changed to "Doom").
Trivia: Kate Capshaw was so afraid to do the scene with all the bugs, that she took drugs to calm her down. They made her a little "drunk". The slowed yet sometimes hysteric reactions to the bugs, were her own real phobias.
Trivia: Originally Kate Capshaw was to perform a much bigger part in the dance number for "Anything Goes". However when she tried on the dress, she couldn't perform the moves, so her dance was cut and she just did simple hand and leg movements throughout the song.
Trivia: Executive producer George Lucas has a cameo role as a missionary in the background in the airport scene at the beginning.
Trivia: The Thuggee was a real cult in India until the early 1900s. They were more of a cross between gypsies and the mafia than the army of religious zealots seen in Temple of Doom. The word Thuggee is, after all, the origin of our word "thug." For a more realistic portrayal of them, check out the Pierce Brosnan movie "The Deceivers."
Trivia: Over a thousand actresses auditioned for the role of Willie Scott, including many soap opera stars and a then unknown Sharon Stone.
Trivia: When two of Lao-Che's men push Indy on a trolley into the orchestra during the fight at Club Obi-Wan, one of the members lets out a "Wilhelm scream."
Trivia: When Indiana Jones shoots the driver of Lao-Che's car during the chase in Shanghai, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.
Answer: This is conjecture, but it seems the general function of setting Temple of Doom before Raiders of the Lost Ark is that it helps set audience expectations that the two movies are self-contained episodes. For instance, Karen Allen has said she wasn't disappointed about not being asked to return because she'd already been told that the next installment was being set in the past before her character is reunited with Indy. Conversely, since we're already aware Raiders makes no mention of the events of Temple of Doom, we know we shouldn't necessarily expect any further installments to continue directly from prior movies' storylines regardless if they are set forward in time.
TonyPH