Other mistake: When Bond drives into the train tunnel, below the train cart with the jewelry, we see that welding is going on in the other train cart. But that is before the bomb is placed in the hole below the cannon. There is no sign of weldings, and no sign of welding equipment once we get inside that cart.
Other mistake: When Bond runs out of fuel in his mini-jet, his landing was obviously filmed on an airport runway, given the heavy black landing marks on it.
Other mistake: In the end credits, Jeremy Bulloch's surname is spelt as "Bullock."
Other mistake: When Bond jumps onto the coupling of the horse-trailer, you can see that the idler wheel is already on the ground. It would be crazy to drive around a rough surface like near the racetrack with the idler wheel down - the trailer could be overturned. (00:04:50)
Other mistake: When Bond starts up his plane during the pre-credit chase scene, the Cuban forces are visible at the horizon closing fast - they have to be to keep the tension up - but with the closing speed and the time it takes for Bond to roll out his plane, there would never be enough street left for him to get airborne.
Other mistake: Some of the shots of Kahn wrestling with the controls in the fight on the plane are reversed. The writing on the controls is backwards (eg RADAR JUNCTION BOX in the middle of the screen). (02:05:35)
Other mistake: When Bond kicks the curry onto the hot coals, the flames flare up very high over the length of the coals, and not just where the curry hits.
Other mistake: The opening scene is at a military airbase which is hosting an equestrian event near the hanger that Bond blows up, and what an explosion that is, but all the civilians are more interested looking at Bond flying off instead of reacting to the massive explosion that just happened nearby.
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.