To prevent anyone using the Vulcan bomber mock-up for future filming, the production team blew up the plane with dynamite. The frame work left behind has since become a reef.
Two early Avro Vulcan B1As from the Waddington Wing were used in the filming. In the ground sequences XA913 was used and for in flight use, XH506. Both aircraft were withdrawn from service by 1968 and scrapped the same year.
Vehicles featured included the return of the silver birch Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger; Fiona Volpe's gold BSA 650cc A65L Lightning motorcycle and 1965 white top Ford Mustang light sky blue convertible; the Disco Volante hydrofoil yacht; Triumph Herald Cabriolet; a white 1965 Ford Thunderbird driven by Emilio Largo in Paris; Count Lippe's black 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner with retractable hardtop roof; Bell Aerosystems Rocketbelt jet-pack; 007 drives a 1965 Lincoln Continental convertible in the Bahamas; a Sikorsky S-62; a Boeing B-17 plane; a hijacked Avro Vulcan B.1 bomber aircraft; a Bell 47J helicopter; a 1965 Ford station wagon; speedboats and underwater sledges such as frogmen driven underwater motorized tow sleds and an underwater motorized bomb sled for carrying two atomic weapons.
When Bond and Domino are rescued by winch at the end of the movie, it was actually by a then-real sea rescue method known as sky-hooking. It is an out of date practice today, as more advanced helicopter rescue methods are used, such as those seen in the movie The Guardian.
While there really is an area known as the "Golden Grotto" in the Bahamas (now rechristened to "Thunderball Reef"), the Golden Grotto sharks that Largo keeps in his swimming pool and describes as "the most dangerous, the most savage" shark species of them all, are entirely fictional. The Bull/Zambezi shark is regarded as the most dangerous to man in all tropical waters.
George Leech:
The stuntman as a Disco Volante crewman (uncredited).
Bob Simmons:
The series regular stuntman in an uncredited part as Colonel Bouvard, the man in drag whom James Bond fights in the pre-title sequence. Before "she" gets punched, the part is played by Rose Alba, explaining why "his" legs look so good in a dress. Up until this film Simmons had appeared as James Bond in the gun-barrel sequence in the first three movies in the series. In this movie, however, Sean Connery performs that moment for the first time.
Kevin McClory:
a man seated smoking a cigar at the Nassau Casino when James Bond arrives.
Charles Russhon:
The military adviser and technical consultant for most of the early movies in the series appears as an Air Force Officer. He appears camera right of M during the conference with all the double-O agents. For this film, he also liaised with the US Coast Guard and US Air Force Aqua-para team to organize their participation in the film. For the production, he also organized the Skyhook rescue equipment and a sizable amount underwater diving gear valued at $US 92,000.
Diane Hartford:
The wife of millionaire Huntington Hartford in an uncredited walk on role as a Girl at the Kiss Kiss Club. She had three lines with Sean Connery whom she was dancing with when the evil redhead Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) cuts into their dance and then gets shot in the back. Husband Huntington gets credited at end of the movie for the use of his privately owned Paradise Island.
Henry Ford II:
The grandson of Henry Ford appeared as an extra. Ford were associated with the picture providing a number of vehicles such as a light sky blue Ford Mustang convertible, Ford Bell 47J and 1965 Ford station wagon.