In fifty years of James Bond movies, this is only the second one in which Bond suffers a gunshot wound. He was also shot in Thunderball (1965) during the Junkanoo chase.

Daniel Craig performed the stunt of leaping and sliding down the escalator rail himself.

The porcelain bulldog on M's desk (which she later gives to Bond) is draped in the Union Jack. These bulldog figurines were created by Royal Doulton during World War II to represent patriotism. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Control (Sir John Hurt), the head of MI6, has two Royal Doulton bulldogs sitting on his desk.

The role of Kincade (Albert Finney) was originally written with Sir Sean Connery in mind. Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson originally wanted Connery to come out of retirement and make a surprise cameo. Director Sir Sam Mendes told "The Huffington Post", "There was a definite discussion about (Connery playing Kincade), way, way early on. But I think that's problematic. Because, to me, it becomes too... it would take you out of the movie. Connery is Bond, and he's not going to come back as another character. It's like, he's been there. So, it was a very brief flirtation with that thought, but it was never going to happen, because I thought it would distract."

Final of twenty-three James Bond movies for trumpet player Derek Watkins, who had worked in the music department as a trumpeter on every James Bond movie since he was 17 years old, when he worked on Dr. No (1962). Watkins died in 2013, four months after the release of this movie.

Continuity

In the Shanghai Tower scene, the terrorist/sniper is seen operating a manual, bolt action rifle. Right after during the fight with James Bond, the gun is shot several times just as if it was a semi-automatic weapon.

In the fight with Patrice in the tower, Bond is not wearing gloves. But at the end of the fight, he is holding Patrice with a gloved hand over the edge of the building.

When Bond and S?v?rine are walking on the island, her shoes change color between shots.

When Bond confronts the assassin and lets him fall to his death from the building in Shanghai, he then looks over to the opposite window where S?v?rine is standing in the smashed window hole, her hair blowing in the breeze. When it cuts to the close-up of her leaving you can see the light reflected in the window glass that has magically reappeared.

The wristwatches of the participants in the Ministerial Hearing are set to a variety of different times - even among participants sitting at the same table.



Factual errors

Both Silva and Bond slide down the center escalator divider in the chase in the tube station. This would not be possible since, on the London Underground, there are protruding metal discs at regular intervals to prevent exactly this behavior.

Upon removing a dental prosthetic on his upper jaw, Silva reveals many of his teeth and part of his cheek were destroyed by "hydrogen cyanide". However, this type of cyanide has never been used in suicide capsules and is no more acidic than lemon juice.

The helicopters which arrive at Silva's lair on Hashima Island are not heard until they appear overhead. These aircraft are extremely noisy and can be noticeably loud, even when a mile or two away.

Silva says that after he bit the capsule with hydrogen cyanide it "burnt his insides" but he "didn't die" because "life clung to him", and then shows the "effects of hydrogen cyanide". All of those statements are goofs. It's impossible for life to cling to anyone who ingests this chemical and he or she invariably dies within 1 to 10 minutes. The chemical doesn't "burn the insides"; it causes oxygen deprivation and death. It also doesn't cause any of the deformities shown by Silva.

In the intro scene when James Bond's train car is uncoupled, the car's brake pipe is disconnected as well. Train brakes work on positive pressure, so if the brake pipe were disconnected, the uncoupled cars would immediately stop within a short distance, and the rest of the train would shortly follow. In the movie, the uncoupled cars continue closely following the train as if nothing had happened.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

After Bond and M arrive at Skyfall they review the available weapons with Kincade. Kincade hands Bond what looks like a double barrel shotgun and says that is was his father's hunting rifle. This is an "express rifle", a double barreled large caliber rifle designed for dangerous game at close range, and easily mistaken for a shotgun.

During the subterranean chase the villain has to adapt his schedule to escape a pursuing Bond, but is somehow still able to predict exactly when and where Bond will catch up to him and to have previously planted explosives at that location and timed it so that an underground train arrives exactly on schedule. He timed it like that on purpose and wanted to get caught, which is clear from the fact that he left the door he disappeared into at the station open for Bond to find, for example.

When Eve accidentally shoots Bond while he's fighting Patrice on the moving train, presumably she has more than one bullet in her rifle that can also eliminate Patrice. However, it could also be a single-shot sniper's rifle. In addition, it would be hard to keep your composure when you've just shot your dear friend and colleague.

Bond's father's gun is manufactured by Anderson Wheeler, so it might seem unlikely that Andrew Bond, a representative of the arms manufacturer Vickers, would have habitually used a competitor's product. But given the fact that Vickers only built military weapons and never produced sporting arms, it is perfectly normal that he would have chosen a double rifle from one of the big sporting guns firms in Mayfair.

After the terrorist attack on MI6, TV reporter explains that six people died and others were injured in the hospital. In the next scene, when M stands next to the coffins, we can count eight coffins that were the victims of the attack. However, the additional coffins could be explained that two of the injured had subsequently died of their injuries. The image is reminiscent of Bloody Sunday (1920) where several British agents were murdered by terrorists.



Revealing mistakes

When the tube train falls through the hole into the area below, all its lights are still working. Once each carriage leaves the rails, which carry the electric current, these would all have gone out and the train would have been in darkness.

The height of the excavator and its jib as initially loaded on the rail car would not have allowed it to pass through the tunnel.

When the train crashes through the roof of the cellar it plows through columns that support the roof but no windows crack and the paint is hardly scratched.

When Bond is climbing out of the dragon pit in the casino and the thug laying on the bridge gets the drop on him, Eve Moneypenny stamps her foot down on the man's wrist, forcing him to drop the gun. When the gun is lying flat on the bridge, the bottom of the handle is shown revealing that there is no magazine in the gun.

During the motorcycle chase, shots from behind show the riders are wearing padding underneath their clothing, particularly obvious for James Bond.



Miscellaneous

The dead body in the Shanghai office building at the top of the escalator is a second security guard, not the first one that was killed. Patrice would've hidden the first body behind the desk instead of carrying it to the second floor.

Given the circumstances, M choosing to not reveal her true identity by not correcting Kincade when he mistakenly addresses her as "Emma" is odd. It isn't as though he or Bond are going to "out" her.



Crew or equipment visible

During one of the beginning scenes, after Bond crashes his bike into a bridge wall and lands on top of a moving train, he almost slips off, but we see in a scene of the train moving away from the bridge that there is a platform which was supporting him as he was climbing back up onto the roof.

In the Shanghai hotel, Patrice goes into a lift and Bond jumps onto the side of it. Whilst the lift is rising, Patrice looks outside of the lift. The shot cuts to an exterior shot of the lift. When it cuts to the exterior shot, for just the first few frames a camera can be seen attached to the lift, used to film the shots of Bond.

After Patrice jumps onto the train, Bond drives off the bridge and lands on the train and begins to fall over the side, then climbs back on. Eve then says "They're on the train." During this shot, you can see the white platform Bond was standing on to climb back onto the train.

In the opening motorcycle sequence, you can clearly see a stunt double wearing a mask that is made to look like Daniel Craig's face.

When Q meets Bond, when Q turns his head to Bond, he shakes Bond's hand and says "007." A reflector screen is reflected in his glasses when this happens.



Errors in geography

The opening chase scene is shot at two different provinces of Turkey, namely Adana and Istanbul, approximately 950 km apart. It is not possible to see yellow cabs with license plate numbers starting with '01' (signifying 'Adana') near the Grand Bazaar (in Istanbul).

The currency being used in Turkey within this film is the Euro. While in real life, Turkey still retains its own currency which is the Lira.

When you see Bond's parents' graves in Skyfall's chapel cemetery, his mother is listed as "Monique Delacroix Bond". Only her first and maiden names would be on her gravestone, as per Scottish tradition.

The suggestion is that the building the Ministerial Hearing is being held in is in Westminster, in one of the Ministerial buildings off of Whitehall, however the building 'Silva' enters seems to be Trinity House on Trinity Square, close to Tower Hill and the Tower of London, several miles away, with Bond and others exiting the building after the shootout onto Seething Lane Garden.

When leaving the hearing after the shooting, M's assistant Tanner has M get in the back on the right side, then walks around to the left side to drive. But in England, the driver seat is on the right side, not the left.



Plot holes

The very "MacGuffin" of the plot, a single drive containing names and aliases of spies, is complete nonsense. No half-decent agency would ever keep such highly sensitive information all in one place - and the film rather shows why.

Bond is shot twice as he's chasing Patrice on the train in the opening sequence. The first time, as he is sitting in the cab of the digger, he is shot near his right shoulder and we see the blood when he is walking inside the train. The second time, Moneypenny shoots him unintentionally as he is fighting Patrice on top of the train; the shot that effectively pushes him off the train to the river below, evidence of a direct hit. There is no indication of Bond wearing a vest and there is no further mention of any wound that should have resulted from being shot twice.

During the train fight Bond employs an excavator sitting on a flatcar. The excavator arm and bucket stick up well above the surface of the flatcar, even before Bond starts it up. After the excavator on the flatcar is disconnected from the rest of the train and the fight goes on, the train enters a series of low clearance tunnels, none of which had enough clearance room to accommodate the excavator on the flatcar. The train would never have been routed on that route with the excavator on it.

In the tube scene, Bond asks the woman who is presumably the train guard, to get inside the train. All London Underground trains in real life (including District and Jubilee lines as mentioned above) are driver only operated, so there are usually nobody present at the back cab of the train.

Bond and M depart for Scotland in Bond's vintage Aston Martin because it is his personal vehicle and thus untraceable by MI6. However, M makes reference to the vehicle having an ejector seat, and at the Skyfall shootout the car is revealed to have machine guns hidden behind its headlights, so clearly the vehicle was at some point substantially upgraded by the agency (and thus has extensive electronic equipment that could be tracked). Not necessarily. As a high profile spy, Bond probably would have made professional contacts in various fields, including special weapons dealers and installers, during his career. He also probably saved money for special circumstances and events. He would have the knowledge on how to keep this information from MI6. This also explains how he can "get around" financially and logistically in past movies when he was "suspended from duty." He could have simply had the the Aston Martin secretly modified in the time period between "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall" using his contacts and financial resources.



Character error

Bond knew Ronson's name yet has to ask Eve her name.

Q gives Bond a box which contains a gun. On the lid is a keyhole. No key is offered and there is no visible latch or mechanism for the lock to engage in.

Bond takes M to Skyfall, saying they will have the advantage. Some "advantage": Skyfall is in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest neighbor; has few weapons; no reinforcements; and no one will have their back.

How can the train's operator not be aware of what is going on, and not stop the train?

The Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has no business or authority in firing M or telling her a new successor will be appointed. The chief of the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service is appointed by the Foreign Secretary or even the Prime Minister and reports to the PM. While the ISC as oversight over MI6/SIS, the Foreign Secretary or PM has the authority to fire M. Also, having Mallory as the next M is far-fetched as M or C is usually an experienced intelligent agent or civil servant with Foreign Office background.