Casino Royale was 'Fleming, Ian' 's first James Bond novel. It was the only one not sold to Eon Productions. As a result, CBS TV first adapted it for an episode of Climax! in 1954, starring Barry Nelson as CIA agent Jimmy Bond. When plans began to adapt the novel as a motion picture, the original thought was to do a straight film of the novel. But with the success of Sean Connery's Bond, it was decided the only way a rival Bond film could survive would be as a parody. The Peter Sellers sequence is the only part of Ian Fleming's novel to make it into the film. The confrontation with Le Chiffre in the casino, the plan to discredit Le Chiffre with SMERSH and the villain's execution by enemy agents are all in the novel. So is the notion of Bond writing a book on baccarat, and the element of Vesper being an enemy spy. Reportedly, Eon Productions has been trying to buy back the rights to Casino Royale for years, in hopes of someday making a serious Bond film out of the novel.
 
During Cooper's "anti-female spy" training sequence, the first female agent who kisses him is dressed exactly like Ursula Andress' character in Dr. No, complete with knife.
 
The man blown up by Le Chiffre is played by the same actor who played a criminal mastermind in From Russia With Love. As recently as 2000, efforts were under way by EON Productions to reestablish ownership of this renegade Ian Fleming novel.
 
In recent years, MGM, which owns the official Bond rights, has purchased the rights to this film from Columbia Pictures

This "Bond film" was not part of the franchise produced by MGM and Danjaq. Kevin McClory, who was producer and co-writer of Thunderball (1965), won a legal battle against Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie. The settlement stipulated that it had to effectively be a remake of Thunderball.
 
The only Bond film to feature Felix Leiter as an African-American. This film is a remake of "Thunderball"(1965), with some differences. Auger, Claudine played "Domino" in the original movie, while Kim Basinger plays the character, now remained "Domino Patachi". Celi, Adolfo, played "Emilio Largo" in the original, while Klaus Maria Branduer played the character in this film, now remained "Maximillian Largo".
 
McClory wanted to include a signature opening sequence similar to the regular Bond films' "gunbarrel" opening, and music for just such an opening was composed and later released on the soundtrack CD. The idea was dropped, and the film thus became the only Bond film not to have a pre-credits sequence of some sort (this includes Casino Royale (1967)).

Le casting au complet, le tournage commence. L'équipe du film va voyager à travers le monde. De Nice où elle est arrivée en septembre 1982 jusqu'à Nassau au Bahamas. Avec, tout de suite, d'insurmontables problèmes à cause de l'incompétence de l'équipe de production, explique Sean Connery.
A l'arrivée, trois heures de film. "J'ai dû sacrifier certaines scènes, admet Irvin Kershner, comme la mort de Blofeld, griffé par son chat lorsqu'il pousse un cri de surprise en voyant Bond et non Largo sur son écran de contrôle."
A la fin du montage définitif, personne n'est totalement satisfait du résultat. "Ce qui aurait dû être une bouffée d'air frais et une partie de plaisir, conclut Sean Connery, a fini par tenir du métal hurlant."
Le public, lui, se moque bien des tracasseries juridiques et des difficultés du tournage. Il réserve un excellent accueil au retour de celui qui incarne, pour beaucoup, une certaine image de James Bond. Vingt huit millions de recettes sur le territoire américain. Battu cependant par Octopussy, sorti en même temps, avec Roger Moore dans le rôle principal.
Malgré tous les problèmes rencontrés avant et pendant le tournage, il ne fait aucun doute que Sean Connery s'est beaucoup amusé à reprendre le personnage qui lui a valu la célébrité. Il se pastiche avec tellement de plaisir qu'il est évident qu'il a complètement exorcisé le fantôme Bond qu'il traînait encore comme un boulet, malgré tous ses efforts. Il peut maintenant, et en toute quiétude, se consacrer à sa passion pour le golf.