When the real MI6 learned that this movie would shoot a scene around their Headquarters, they moved to prohibit it, citing a security risk. However, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, at the urging of Member of Parliament Janet Anderson, moved to overrule them and allow the shoot, stating, "After all Bond has done for Britain, it was the least we could do for Bond."
Desmond Llewelyn (Q) died in an car accident soon after this movie was released. Llewellyn said just before his death that he was planning to appear in the next Bond movie. The video release was dedicated to Llewelyn, and featured a tribute montage of his appearances in seventeen Bond movies over thirty-six years. Not only was this his final Bond movie, it was the last James Bond movie of the second millennium.
To create the effect when Bond looks through his X-ray glasses, the actors were first filmed in their regular costumes, then again this time wearing special costumes that revealed the shapes of guns and knives underneath translucent clothing. The two were then matted together.
The adjusting of the tie underwater by James Bond in the opening boat chase was an idea conceived by Pierce Brosnan.
In the warehouse that Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) has turned into an operations room, the girlie pictures seen on the walls are of former Bond Girls.
Ray Brown: The bespectacled wheel clamper soaked by Bond during the Thames boat chase. His cameo was a topical "revenge" gag for the public, as he had been the most prominent star of the BBC fly-on-the-wall series called "The Clampers", where his over-zealous behavior, and apparent enjoyment of clamping illegally parked cars, had made him a figure of popular hatred. He and the other actor were told that they would only get "slightly wet".
Judith Shekoni: , who had a blink-and-you'll-miss-her appearance in this movie (she appeared in Valentin Zuckovsky's casino when James Bond puts on the x-ray glasses), played Precious on EastEnders (1985). Goldie (Bullion) played gangster Angel on the same show. Precious was his mistress.