The rapid montage of file boxes near the end of the film is each labeled with brief details of US-backed coups and other US regime change attempts since the events of this film: 1953 - Mohammad Mossadegh - Iran;
1954 - Jacobo Árbenz - Guatemala;
1960 - Patrice Lumumba - Congo;
1961 - Rafael Trujillo - Dominican Republic;
1961 - Fidel Castro - Bay of Pigs;
1963 - Ngo Dinh Diem - South Vietnam;
1964 - Joao Goulart - Brazil;
1967 - Sukarno - Indonesia;
1973 - Salvador Allende - Chile;
1976 - Perón - Argentina;
1971 - Juan José Torres - Bolivia;
1983 - Grenada;
1960 - Kong Le - Laos;
1982-1989 - Nicaragua (Iran-Contra);
1980-1992 - El Salvador;
1965-1966 - Dominican Republic;
1988-2002 - Chavez - Venezuela;
1952 - Farouk - Egypt;
1959-present - Iraq.
In mid-September 2020, Coup 53 was pulled from its digital distribution platforms. The filmmaker said in an email: "I have some sad news. Due to an archive licensing issue that has been brought to our attention today, we must withdraw the film from all public screenings until the issue is resolved with the copyright holder," referring to ITV, the copyright holder for the Iran (1985) footage used in this film. Coup 53 became available again on digital platforms on December 18, 2020 after ITV granted a new archive license, conditional on 17 specific amendments to the film pertaining to the representation of Iran (1985).
The transcript of Alison Rooper's Iran (1985) off-the-record research interview with Norman Darbyshire can be seen online at the National Security Archive website.
The producers of Iran (1985) have criticised the portrayal by Coup 53 of their programme, and produced a website and video to summarise their critiques. They challenge Coup 53's suggestions that they censored the key interview with Norman Darbyshire in order to downplay MI6's role in the coup. They state that Darbyshire would not agree to be filmed or named, but that the audio-only research interview Alison Rooper conducted with him was important to their work in which they clearly show MI6's role in the coup for the first time. The production team and other website contributors object to the film's suggestions that the Darbyshire transcript was "leaked" to the Observer columnist Nigel Hawkes or "discovered" by the makers of Coup 53, as the Iran (1985) producers in fact openly shared the transcript and all other evidence with both Hawkes in 1985 and with Taghi Amirani in 2014. Website contributors also claim that the film gives insufficient credit for extensively using End of Empire footage and for its pioneering research uncovering British involvement in the coup.
Several contributors to Coup 53 have criticised the film and its use of their contributions. Cameraperson Humphrey Trevelyan has retracted his statements in the film, saying that upon reviewing his memories and evidence, he has "had to reach the conclusion that my 'memory' of my involvement in a filmed interview with Darbyshire was erroneous", and that he only filmed one interview for the Iran programme, with Sam Falle. Author Stephen Dorril, who is interviewed in Coup 53, has called the film "essentially fraudulent" for its suggestions that it has uncovered suppressed information about Darbyshire, noting that he has discussed Darbyshire in print since 1989, and also suggesting Taghi Amirani misled Dorril about evidence of a filmed interview with Darbyshire. Author and Iran (1985) researcher Cate Haste asked to be removed from Coup 53's credits.