Trivia: This is Pierce Brosnan's least favourite Bond movie of the four in which he appeared. Brosnan disliked the over-the-top special effects and gadgets, and suggested to the producers that the follow-up should be dark and gritty. After Brosnan left, the series was indeed given a grittier reboot.
Trivia: In the training sim, Bond refers to the virtual M's seemingly fatal wounding as "just a flesh wound." He makes this remark to John Cleese, who said the same thing in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" after having all his limbs removed by King Arthur.
Trivia: The name of the hotel that Bond visits in Hong Kong is The Rubyeon Royale Hotel. "Ruby" for the 40th anniversary of the James Bond series, "Eon" for EON Productions, producers of the series, and "Royale" for Casino Royale, the first Ian Fleming James Bond novel.
Trivia: When Gustav Graves parachutes in, the Union Jack parachute is a reference to "The Spy Who Loved Me" when Roger Moore skis off the snowy cliff and floats to safety with his Union Jack parachute. (00:48:50)
Trivia: During the fight with Miranda Frost, Jinx runs up a wall and jumps off to land behind her. Michelle Yeoh does the exact same move in "Tomorrow Never Dies."
Trivia: When Jinx is coming out of the water in Cuba, it looks very much like the Ursula Andress scene from Dr. No. (00:34:35)
Trivia: Bond reads from "Birds of the West Indies", which has the author's name scratched out. That's a real book, and was written by a man called James Bond – Ian Fleming used the name for his novels. (00:32:30)
Trivia: The jetpack Bond triggers when talking to Q is the one he used from Thunderball. (01:02:15)
Trivia: With all those tributes to past Bond movies, they didn't use the one line Bond keeps saying 'Shaken, not stirred'.
Trivia: Halle Berry was the first Oscar winner to play a Bond girl. While Kim Basinger holds both honors, she won her Oscar fifteen years after her Bond appearance, whereas Berry won hers while "Die Another Day" was still in production.
Trivia: When Q gives Bond his new watch he mentions that it is the twentieth watch he has had, a reference to the fact that this is the twentieth (official) Bond film. (01:02:55)
Trivia: The sunglasses Bond takes off the guy at the start are in fact Pierce Brosnan's own sunglasses - at the time of filming he'd had them for 3 years and fancied wearing them during the scene.
Trivia: The "Players Navy Cut" poster in the tube station behind the "Vanish" is a reference to one of the Fleming books where the female character falls "in love" with the image of the sailor on the packet. Sorry can't remember which book though.
Trivia: Next to Rosa Klebb's shoe in the Q scene you can see the suitcase from From Russia With Love, although in this one the knife comes out blade first, rather than handle first. (01:02:10)
Trivia: There are two references to "Diamonds are Forever". When Bond's reading a magazine on the plane, that line is printed clearly at the bottom of one page. Also, when Graves is talking about his business, he says "Well, diamonds are for everyone", slurred together a bit. Close enough. (00:48:15)
Answer: By this stage, it's become a habit.
J I Cohen