The movie seemed to have generated a new interest in J.M.W. Turner's works. On December 3, 2014, Turner's painting "Rome, From Mount Aventine" (painted in 1835) was sold at auction by Sotheby's house for 30.3 million pounds (U$ 47.47 million), a record for any pre-20th century British artist. The painting was part of the Rosebery collection ever since 1878 and was in perfect conditions.
In late 2014, Sony Pictures was the victim of a major hack of their computer systems in which confidential corporate information and several unreleased complete movies were posted for public consumption. Among reams of other information, DVD-quality downloads of this movie appeared online before its official cinematic release.
The working replica of Robert Stephenson's 1830 Planet locomotive is from the Manchester Museum Of Science And Industry. It ran on an old railway track in North Wales, which, crucially, ran east-west. They wanted the sun setting behind the train - the conditions Turner had painted and had only one chance to get the shot right, because the train had to be returned the next day. That night there was a glowing sunset.
When Dr Price attends Turner in London, he says he is taking the train back to Margate from Charing Cross station, which wasn't opened until 1864, 13 years after Turner's death.
In one of the first outdoor scenes of a street, two extras dressed in period costume can be seen stepping over a very modern looking BT manhole cover in the pavement.
When Turner says "no good deed goes unpunished" he's a bit ahead of his time. The quote is attributed to Clare Boothe Luce with some unsupported claims it might have first been said by 3 others, who all would have been quite young or unborn at the time of Turner's death.