Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's 1960 short story "From a View to a Kill", the film has an entirely original screenplay.

In A View to a Kill, Bond is pitted against Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken), who plans to destroy California's Silicon Valley.

Q analyzes the microchip, establishing it to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, made by government contractor Zorin Industries.

Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a racehorse trainer and MI6 agent, believes Zorin's horses, which win consistently, are drugged, although tests proved negative.

Infiltrating Zorin's mine, Bond and Stacey discover his plot to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults, which will cause them to flood and submerge Silicon Valley.

Originally Maibaum's script included Zorin manipulating Halley's Comet into crashing into Silicon Valley, but Wilson insisted on a more realistic plot.

[8] At the end of Octopussy, the "James Bond Will Return" sequence listed the next film as "From a View to a Kill", the name of the original short story, but later the title was changed.

[10] Roger Moore had originally signed a three-film contract with Eon Productions, (Live and Let Die in 1973, The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 and The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977) which was fulfilled.

[11] Uncertainty surrounding his involvement in Octopussy in 1983 led to other actors being considered to take over but Moore was convinced to come back as he was competing against Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again.

He initially accepted the role, but later decided against it, saying "I didn't want to spend five months watching my stunt double fall off cliffs."

Lundgren, who was dating Grace Jones at the time, was visiting her on set when one day an extra was missing, so the director John Glen then asked him if he wanted to attempt the role.

[8] The film was shot at Pinewood Studios in London, Iceland, Switzerland, France and the United States with the budget initially being $35 million.

[3] Several French landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, its Jules Verne restaurant and the Château de Chantilly were filmed.

[17] On 27 June 1984, several leftover canisters of petrol used during filming of Ridley Scott's Legend caused Pinewood Studios' 007 Stage to burn to the ground.

The scene in which Bond and Sutton enter the mineshaft was then filmed in a waterlogged quarry near Staines-upon-Thames and the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum in West Sussex.

[19] On 6 October 1984, the fourth unit, headed by special effects supervisor John Richardson, began its work on the climactic fight sequence.

Worth and Don Caldvedt, would undertake two jumps from a (clearly visible) platform that extended from a top edge of the Eiffel Tower.

At the time Airship Industries was producing a fleet of blimps which were recognisable over many capitals of the world offering tours, or advertising sponsorship deals.

Barry's composition from On Her Majesty's Secret Service was modified for use in the songs "Snow Job", "He's Dangerous" and "Golden Gate Fight" of A View to a Kill.

[36] The site's critical consensus reads: "Absurd even by Bond standards, A View to a Kill is weighted down by campy jokes and a noticeable lack of energy."

Washington Post critic Paul Attanasio said, "Moore isn't just long in the tooth—he's got tusks, and what looks like an eye job has given him the pie-eyed blankness of a zombie.

"[40] Moore also said that, at the time, A View to a Kill was his least favourite Bond film, and mentioned that he was mortified to find out that he was older than his female co-star's mother.

But none of the action prepares the viewer for the heart-stopping climax with Zorin's dirigible tangled in the cables on top of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge."

"[44] Norman Wilner of MSN also chose it as the worst Bond film,[45] while IGN picked it as the fourth-worst,[46] while Entertainment Weekly ranked it as the fifth-worst.

[47] Danny Peary had mixed feelings about A View to a Kill but was generally complimentary: "Despite what reviewers automatically reported, [Moore] looks trimmer and more energetic than in some of the previous efforts ...

Unfortunately, the filmmakers – who ruined villain Jaws by making him a nice guy in Moonraker – make the mistake of switching May Day at the end from Bond's nemesis to his accomplice, depriving us of a slam-bang fight to the finish between the two (I suppose gentleman Bond isn't allowed to kill women, even a monster like May Day) ... [The film] lacks the flamboyance of earlier Bond films, and has a terrible slapstick chase sequence in San Francisco, but overall it's fast-paced, fairly enjoyable, and a worthy entry in the series.

The second, titled James Bond 007: A View to a Kill was a text adventure for the Apple II and IBM PC compatibles.

The film was loosely adapted into a series of four Find Your Fate adventure game books: Win, Place, or Die; Strike it Deadly; Programmed for Danger; and Barracuda Run, which were released in 1985.

[55] Other references include Nikolai Diavolo, a character in the 2004 game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, claiming Zorin to be his mentor and friend.

[56] In GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, a multiplayer level is the summit of the Golden Gate Bridge, including the Zorin blimp, which would fire on players when activated.