Trivia

Filmmaker Kevin McClory sued novelist Ian Fleming and won the rights to Thunderball, SPECTRE and Blofeld. EON Productions had already used Blofeld in From Russia With Love, and Dr. No had been a member of SPECTRE. So they made an agreement with McClory, that they would make him a Producer for Thunderball if he'd let them film it, and if they could use SPECTRE and the Blofeld character for the next 12 years.
--Source: James Bond in the 21st Century, Page 5

SPECTRE means SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.
--Source: Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories, Page 49

Thunderball is the ninth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. It was created with the intention of being turned into a film, and is officially credited as being based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming.

Maurice Binder returned to the series to design the main title sequence for this movie after being absent from the previous two Bond movies, From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964). He had designed the opening titles for Dr. No (1962) and would continue on every Bond movie after this one until his last on Licence to Kill (1989).

Largo's two-section yacht the Disco Volante was adapted from a hydrofoil vessel called The Flying Fish. It cost $500,000 to acquire from Puerto Rico and transfer to Miami for refitting and refurbishment. It was given a cocoon shell which was fifty feet long and could be separated from the main boat as seen in the movie's finale.

The Fiona Volpe character was originally Irish and called Fiona Kelly in earlier drafts of the script. But the surname was changed to suit the Italian nationality of Luciana Paluzzi who was cast in the role of Fiona after being rejected for the role of Domino. The character does not appear at all in the novel.

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.

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 It is an out of date practice today, as more advanced helicopter rescue methods are used.

Principal photography at Château d'Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France coincided with the French Premiere of the previous James Bond movie, Goldfinger (1964). As such, members of the production attended the French launch.

A GI Joe doll was popular in the toy market at the time of Thunderball (1965)'s production so when the film was released, the first ever James Bond action figure was manufactured as part of the film's merchandising. The film's massive collectible merchandising continued the boom which had started with Goldfinger (1964).

Claudine Auger's heavily accented English was deemed too "French-thick" by the filmmakers after shooting initial scenes of her. Hence, Nikki Van der Zyl, who dubbed Ursula Andress' voice in Dr. No (1962), was brought back to dub Auger's lines. For similar reasons, Adolfo Celi (Largo) had his lines dubbed over by Robert Rietty to hide his thick and distinctive Sicillian accent.

James Bond does not drink a vodka martini shaken not stirred in this movie but he does order a Dom Perignon 55 champagne by a swimming pool whilst dining with Domino.