Factual error: In the Bosphorus scenes, as the ferry crosses from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul, in the distance large trucks can be seen speeding along the coastal road opposite. Well before their time.
Factual error: In Jake's office, Evelyn Mulwray stands by the window and a mid twentieth century modern building is outside it to the right. (00:57:20)
Factual error: The signalling board in the control tower animates Pelham 123's movements in such detail that the police can tell when it is moving and when it has stopped. Indeed the police deduce that the hijackers have abandoned the train from this. In reality this could not happen. Subway tracks are divided into variable length blocks typically hundreds of yards in length. The signalling boards are only able to show which block a train is in. The only way to tell if a train is moving is when it moves from one block to the next and the only way to estimate speed is by how quickly it occupies successive blocks. A slow-moving or stationary train are thus not able to be so easily distinguished from one another on the board.
Factual error: When the cops are staking out Charles Bronson's apartment, one orders the other to go to a pay phone and call him. He runs towards Riverside Drive, going west, and finds a broken phone. Then he runs to a subway station and makes the call. He returns from the same direction. Well, there are no subway stations on Riverside. The nearest is two long city blocks away, going east. Even if he ran that far, he would not have returned from the same direction - he would have come from the east.
Factual error: The movie events take place in 1957, but in a poster at the reception is written Die Zauberflote, November 20 1960. (00:06:55)