After the movie was released, there was a lot of talk about the film's lead actor Lewis Collins being the next James Bond. On the film's audio-commentary, producer Euan Lloyd and Ian Sharp state how they thought Collins would have made an excellent Bond and were both surprised that Collins didn't become the next actor to play him when there was a casting change in the part after Roger Moore. Moreover, also in the cast was Edward Woodward, who was once rumored to be taking over the role of Q in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999), but this did not happen.
A hovercraft is shown arriving, cars are then shown passing through customs. However the hovercraft shown (an SRN-6) is a passenger-only model and is far too small to carry cars.
The television newsreader refers to "London Airport". London has had two airports (Heathrow and Gatwick) since 1958. Whilst colloquially Heathrow is sometimes referred to as "London Airport" because it is the closer one to central London, a news report would be more precise.
During the Embassy storm sequence two dummies are clearly used dangling from a helicopter, representing SAS soldiers entering the building through the top floor windows.
Colonel Hadley: When the SAS is called upon to do what we're trained to do, we have been likened to a surgeon cutting out a cancer. It's a filthy and difficult job. We don't like doing it, but it's our duty.
The SAS (Special Air Service) were a British and Commonwealth special forces unit formed during World War 2 to conduct irregular warfare behind enemy lines. Britain, New Zealand and Australia all have their own SAS units expert in counter-insurgency, commando raids and anti-terrorism
Q
How realistic is the film?
A
In some ways extremely so. The SAS training in hostage rescue at the 'Killing House' at Hereford and escape and evasion in the nearby Welsh mountains is very true to life. In the 1980s Arab governments such as Libya, Iraq and Iran really did sponsor terrorism in the UK and were supported by extreme left-wing politicians (dubbed the 'looney left' by the press) in the British parliament. The scene where the SAS storm Skellen's flat in order to rescue his family,(boring tiny holes in the wall in order to insert bugs, blasting in using a shaped explosive charge and killing the terrorists with 'double taps'to the head) is identical to the tactics used during the Iranian Embassy siege. The sequence where an SAS trooper catches fire whilst breaching the US Ambassador's residence is taken directly from real life events, Sgt John MacCleese of the SAS doing just that at the Iranian Embassy assault. Igrid Pitt's character is very blatantly based on Ulrike Meinhoff of the infamous German Baader/Meinhoff terrorist group.