Continuity mistake: When Bond is about to take-off, there's a brief shot of the plane speeding up. It is obviously a different runway because a) the trees on the side have disappeared, and b) the road swaps from clean to filled with skid marks.
Continuity mistake: When Bond places the bomb inside the radar he is slightly facing backwards and twisting his arm, but a shot later he is perfectly positioned in a much more comfortable position.
Continuity mistake: During the pre-credits Bond enters a military base, knocks down a soldier and places his suitcase on a table. The position of the suitcase changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Bond is pinned to the wooden door by the knives we see each knife cut his shirt, trapping him to the door, but when he opens the door and grabs the knife with his left hand, his left arm is now completely free, with no holes or rips on his sleeve.
Continuity mistake: During the fight on the roof of the train, the scenery in the background changes dramatically between shots. Especially when the surviving knife artist climbs up on the roof. There we are in a dense forest, and when we cut to Bond, we are on an open field.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, Bond takes off with his plane. When he is about to take off you can see the wheels under the plane, but in the next shot the wheels are gone.
Answer: It wasn't meant to be related at all. It was just an action sequence to start off the film as Bond completes a previous assignment before a segue into the familiar 007 opening theme and a new song. I recall there were some other earlier Bond films that also used this formula. After the opening bit, the story starts as Bond meets with "M" for a new mission, then a briefing with "Q" about the latest spy gadgets. There was also the obligatory flirtatious banter between Bond and Miss Moneypenny.
raywest ★
I see what you mean. I'm thinking of those films where the opening scene has some link to the main plot (e.g. The Spy Who Loved Me), but Moonraker is like this one, it starts off (spectacularly) with Bond at the end of a previous assignment.