Timothy Dalton stated in an interview about why his Bond was a much darker, grittier incarnation. It was because he wanted to go back to the Ian Fleming novels, and capture the essence and the spirit of the character Ian Fleming created.

In an interview during filming in September 1988, Timothy Dalton denied media claims that his Bond was not allowed to have as much sex due to the AIDS epidemic being a major concern at the time. However, in a 2007 interview, he admitted that this was true.

Of all of the Bond films, this one has the largest role for Desmond Llewelyn as Q.

It is widely and incorrectly rumored that this was Timothy Dalton's last James Bond film due it being financially disappointing. In reality, Dalton was to star in a third James Bond film after this one, titled "Property of a Lady", written by Michael G. Wilson and Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. and set to start shooting in 1990, with pre-production work having begun in May of that year. However legal issues with MGM beginning that year created long delays which eventually led Dalton to announce his retirement from the role in 1994, a year after his initial contract expired, paving the way for Pierce Brosnan's casting in GoldenEye (1995). Had the film been made, it would have been set in Scotland, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and would have involved nanotechnology. While no director was ever officially attached, John Landis, Ted Kotcheff and John Byrum were all under consideration.

Desmond Llewelyn later noted that this was the first time that he'd made any real money out of the Bond films.

Continuity

When the people at the church look up at the helicopter holding the plane, it is at a low altitude yet it is immediately shown thousands of feet higher to allow the parachuters to jump out.

When Bond is battling the pilot on the seaplane, he is hanging out the starboard (passenger-side) doorway. When the exterior shot shows the plane banking starboard up, the interior shot shows the ground over Bond's shoulder (should show the sky). Conversely, when the plane is banking starboard down, the sky is shown behind Bond (should show the ground).

When Bond throws the burning gasoline in the lab, he throws it horizontally. The shot then cuts to flaming gasoline falling on, and flooding, the lab table from directly above the frame.

When the Sentinel is finished being loaded with cocaine from the plane, you can see that the CCTV periscope has already been smashed on the sub. This doesn't happen for another minute or so after Bond begins to cut through the bags.

When Bond is hanging on the pontoon plane his hair is dry despite coming straight out of the sea.



Factual errors

When the air hose on a truck's braking system is severed, the brakes lock on, they do not release as shown.

The discharge of an electric eel does not produce flashes of light in the water.

Sanchez pays Killifer his $2 million bribe in a medium-sized suitcase, describing it as "all in $20 bills". A single suitcase is much too small to hold 100,000 banknotes. In addition a $20 note weighs about 1 gram, so 100,000 of them would weigh 100 kg / 220 lbs., which is an impractical weight to carry in one case.

Bond breathes in a large quantity of pure cocaine at the factory, yet he functions as normal afterwards.

When Bond makes the cash deposit in the bank, the amount of money set out on the table and the desk is far more than the case he carried could hold.



Revealing mistakes

The head up display that is shown when the stinger missile is being aimed at the semi-trailer during the truck chase in Mexico, uses the exact same graphics that were used in the previous Bond film The Living Daylights on the Aston Martin when it fired it's missiles at a semi-trailer blocking the road in Austria. The only difference is the color of the graphics has changed from red to green. Amongst other things, the numbers on the display indicate that the temperature is freezing when it is a sunny day.

When Bond is breaking into Krest's laboratory, a shark comes out under the steps, knocks a platform loose, and holds its position vertically with its head above water for several seconds. Not only is the shark obviously fake, this is atypical behavior for a shark, not to mention the fact that a shark lacks the muscle balance to hold its body in a vertical position with its head above water for any period of time.

Even driven by Bond a real traction unit could not perform a wheelie, as the cab pivots in the rear frame; but here it rotates about the leading powered axle, with the tanker mounting unrealistically dipping through the trailing powered axle.

The maggots in Krest's laboratory do not move independently. You can tell there is some type of vibrating object underneath the maggots that is causing movement, as it looks very unnatural and it quite obvious.

When Bond is escaping from Krest's drug pickup at sea, and knocks the first villain out of the small airplane, there is a very visible bulge in the stuntman's jacket as he falls, revealing that he is wearing a small parachute underneath the garment.



Miscellaneous

The character Sharkey's name is spelled Sharky on the sign for his charter boat.

Q always complains about Bond losing or breaking gadgets, then throws broom-radio away.

Felix Leiter is still (though slightly) alive when James Bond comes to his house and finds him. Even though it's a while after Leiter had his leg eaten by a shark and highly likely would've died from shock or blood loss. It's likely Sanchez' men (only meaning to mutilate him) fried his wounds and gave him a helping drug sometime in-between. Thus, resulting in Leiter still 'clinging-on' to life at the time Bond finds him.



Anachronisms

When Felix jumps out of the helicopter with a top hat in both hands, how could he open his parachute as he would have to release one to activate his throwaway, but still had two on opening.

When visiting the Krest warehouse, Bond is told they sold all their sharks However, when he sneaks back in at night, there is a juvenile shark in a tank amongst all the other tanks on display, and you see a shadow on the wall of either another or the same shark. The shark would have been easy to spot amongst all the smaller fish in the smaller tanks.



Crew or equipment visible

When Bond first tries out the lighter given to him, a tube connected to the lighter is visible running down his sleeve.

After the prison van has plunged off the bridge, the cables that are lowering the van to the sea bed can be seen attached to the roof.



Errors in geography

In one scene, the federal agents are talking to Bond in front of the Key West Sponge Market. They start walking, and in the next scene they are in front of Hemingway House. The two locations are actually about a mile apart.



Plot holes

After his capture, the DEA choose to transport Sanchez in a prison van with 2 trucks full of Marines and a Coast Guard helicopter flying overhead. Wouldn't it have been more sensible to just to transport him in the helicopter as not only would have been quicker, but there was a much lower chance of him escaping/being rescued?



Character error

Both Truman-Lodge and Heller greet the Asian delegation in Japanese, but the delegation members speak Chinese amongst themselves. In addition, two members of the delegation are referred to as "Kwang" and "Tan," which are surnames of Chinese origin.

The shark appears to be a tiger shark as opposed to a great white stated by Bond.

Bond says "Bon appetite" as he shuts Krest's henchman in the drawer with the maggots. But the henchman is in no danger; maggots don't eat living flesh.

When the tires of the tanker that Bond is driving get shot out and it veers off the road, Bond chooses to get out of the driver's side of the cabin (left door) instead of the right hand door despite the fact that by doing so he is exposing himself to direct gunfire from the villains. By getting out of the other door he would have had potential cover from gunfire instantly. These would not be the actions of a top secret agent.