The line where Fiona derides Bond's ability to turn women to the side of right and virtue was taken from an actual critique of Goldfinger, where the critic derided Bond's ability to turn Pussy Galore away from Goldfinger.
The literal translations of some of the movie's foreign language titles include Fireball (Germany & Finland); Operation Thundersky (Norway); Calm Down, Mr Bond (Netherlands); The Thunderball (Sweden); Atomic Ball (Portugal); Agent 007 Into The fire (Denmark); The Ball of Thunder (Israel) ; 007 Averts SPECTRE / 007 Averted The Spectre (China) ; Thunderball Fighting (Japan); Operation Thunder (Belgium & France); and Operation Thunderball (Italy, Japan, Spain & Poland)
The many underwater scenes stem from writer Kevin McClory's interest in diving.
The movie had two major re-releases with two other James Bond films: The first was with From Russia with Love in 1968 and the other was with You Only Live Twice from 1970 until 1972. The latter pairing was billed as "the two biggest Bonds of all."
The only Bond film in which Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman are not credited for their work done as producers. They are instead only credited as executive producers. This is the only EON Productions James Bond film to have Kevin McClory credited as a producer.
The only Bond film where we get a glimpse of all 00 agents in one shot. They are summoned to M's briefing and 007 is the last to join in. He sits down in the only available chair - the seventh from the left. Only one of the other 00's faces are revealed, however, as they are filmed from behind or their faces are hidden, and Bond is seen in close-up.
The only individual James Bond movie to win a Visual or Special Effects Oscar (Academy Award). It was for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects and awarded to John Stears in 1966. Moonraker was nominated for Best Effects, Visual Effects in 1979 but did not win. Albert R. Broccoli received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy for producing the group of James Bond movies in 1982. Goldfinger won the first Bond Oscar for Sound Effects.
The opening sequence in earlier versions of the script was set in Hong Kong at a fan-tan parlor strip joint. The man in drag story element though was still the same though he was dressed in a peacock outfit and sat in a gold cage.
The production staff screened The Silent Enemy several times to glean tips on underwater warfare for the film. "Silent Enemy" dealt with British VS Italian Frogmen in the Mediterranean during the second world war.
The reason why many of the villains are played by Italian actors was because the original script did not involve SPECTRE but Italian gangsters in the Sicilian Mafia, with Largo as a Crime Boss.
The rocket-propulsion Jet Pack seen in the film was originally designed and invented for military use. It is also known as the Small Rocket Lift Device (SRLD). The original intention as conceived during the 1950s was for soldiers to be able to improve their agility, depth of field and ability to commandeer terrain by being able to jump over impeding landmarks and waterways. The Bell Aerosystems Rocketbelt model was used for this movie. Its flight goes for twenty one seconds, and provides 1000 brake horsepower.
The Shrublands resort was actually a converted hotel near Pinewood Studios.
The title song was originally to be "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" sung by Dionne Warwick, but was changed at the last minute to "Thunderball" sung by Tom Jones. The producers were concerned about a main title song that did not include the film's title as the song title. Four different versions of the "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" song were recorded, including a version sung by Shirley Bassey and two different instrumental versions; the two instrumental versions were eventually released on disc, while Warwick's version was used in the opening credit sequence of an unreleased version of the film. This version can be heard on Audio Commentary Track Two on the DVD during the opening titles and on the James Bond 30th Anniversary double CD.
There is debate over who provides Blofeld's voice in this film. Some sources say Joseph Wiseman. Other sources give credit to Eric Pohlmann. In any event, Anthony Dawson, who provided Blofeld's body in From Russia with Love, makes a return appearance.
This film and From Russia with Love are the only Bond movies to use the wipe editing technique in scene transitions.
This film was Sean Connery's own favorite performance as 007.
This is the first James Bond film to be shot in a widescreen process, Panavision.
This was the first James Bond movie to provide two key elements for the series' success. It was the first of Maurice Binder's opening titles sequences created in the form that they would become most famous for. It was also the first to have movie posters which had panoramic adventure-scene artwork. These would become a tradition for the series until Licence to Kill. From GoldenEye onwards, photo montages have become the staple for James Bond movie posters.
This was the most popular Bond movie with paying audiences, racking up 140 million ticket sales. Goldfinger, with 130 million ticket sales, ranks number two in popularity.
Thunderbeatle was the nickname for James Bond creator Ian Fleming given to him by his wife Ann Fleming. The type of car that Largo is seen driving in Paris at the start of the movie was a 1965 Thunderbird which was a make of car that was adored by Ian Fleming.