Bond sets out to stop the smuggling but discovers he must defeat Blofeld before he destroys Washington D.C. in his plan to blackmail the world with nuclear supremacy.

After George Lazenby left the series, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli tested other actors, but studio United Artists wanted Connery back, paying a then-record $1.25 million salary for him to return.

While assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd kill people involved in a diamond-smuggling operation, M suspects that South African diamonds are being stockpiled to depress prices by dumping and assigns Bond to uncover the smuggling ring.

After Bond's attempt to change the cassette containing the satellite control codes fails, a helicopter attack on the rig is launched by Leiter and the CIA.

Bond and Tiffany then head for Britain on an ocean liner, where Wint and Kidd pose as room-service workers and attempt to kill them with a bomb hidden in a cake.

In uncredited roles, Lola Larson (a stage name used by gymnast Mary Hiller[7]) and Trina Parks appeared as Bambi and Thumper, Whyte's bodyguards;[8] Shane Rimmer as Tom, the director of Whyte's astronautics facility;[9] Ed Bishop as Klaus Hergersheimer, a scientist involved with building the satellite;[10] Henry Rowland as Doctor Tynan, and Cassandra Peterson as a dancer.

[13] The producers originally intended to have Diamonds Are Forever re-create commercially successful aspects of Goldfinger, including hiring the director, Guy Hamilton.

The characters Irma Bunt and Marc-Ange Draco were set to return and Bond mourning his deceased wife Tracy while Louis Armstrong's We Have All the Time in the World played in the background.

[20] When George Lazenby departed from the role prior to the film's release, a complete rewrite was requested, in addition to Maibaum's script failing to impress Albert R. Broccoli and Saltzman.

The idea was borrowed from an early draft of On Her Majesty's Secret Service in which Ernst Stavro Blofeld was to be Goldfinger's twin brother, with Gert Fröbe set to return.

[25] David Picker, then-president of United Artists, had seen the stage musical Georgy written by Mankiewicz, and recommended him; he was hired on a two-week trial and kept on for the rest of the movie, as well as several subsequent Bond films.

[26] The adaptation eliminated the main villains from the source Ian Fleming novel, mobsters called Jack and Seraffimo Spang, but used the henchmen Shady Tree, Mr. Wint and Mr.

[24] George Lazenby was originally offered a contract for seven Bond films but declined and left after just one, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, on the advice of his agent Ronan O'Rahilly.

[14] Charles Gray was cast as villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, after playing a Bond ally named Dikko Henderson in You Only Live Twice (1967).

[14] The scene was originally written to include Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd killing Dr. Tynan by forcing a scorpion down his mouth, but it was rewritten in order to be approved by British censors.

[6] The film was shot primarily in the United States, with locations including the Los Angeles International Airport,[39] Universal City Studios and eight hotels of Las Vegas.

[24][42] The cinematographers said filming in Las Vegas at night had an advantage: no additional illumination was required due to the high number of neon lights.

The interiors were a set constructed at Pinewood Studios, where Ken Adam imitated the real building's lozenge-shaped stained glass window in its chapel.

During location filming, Ken Adam visited several funeral homes in the Las Vegas area, and the inspiration behind the gaudy design of the Slumber Mortuary, for example the use of tasteless Art Nouveau furniture and Tiffany lamps, came from these experiences.

[47] Hamilton had the idea of making a fight scene inside a lift, which was choreographed and performed by Sean Connery and stuntman Joe Robinson.

[14] While filming the scene of finding Plenty O'Toole drowned in Tiffany's swimming pool, Lana Wood actually had her feet loosely tied to a cement block on the bottom.

[55] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times noted, in a positive review, the irrelevance of the plot and "moments of silliness", such as Bond driving a moon buggy with revolving antennae and flapping robot arms.

[56] Vincent Canby of The New York Times enthusiastically praised the film as: A nostalgic journey down memory lane – by jet, by helicopter, by hearse, by moon machine, and by bare foot across deep-pile rugs to king-sized beds in hotel rooms as big as Nevada.

A lot of things have changed since You Only Live Twice (1967), the last real Bond adventure, but 007 has remained a steadfast agent for the military-industrial complex, a friend to the CIA and a triumphant sexist.

Diamonds Are Forever is also great, absurd fun, not only because it recalls the moods and manners of the sixties (which, being over, now seem safely comprehensible), but also because all of the people connected with the movie obviously know what they are up to.

He praised Connery as "a fine, forceful actor with an undeniable presence [who] turns his well-publicized contempt for the Bond character into some wry moments of self-parody.

"[59] Peter Schjeldahl of The New York Times described Diamonds Are Forever as "a pretty good movie – not great art, but fantastic packaging.

Apparently Messrs. Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, who have made a fortune producing these Ian Fleming-inspired mellers, have reached that point where a sustained story means little in prepping an 007 picture.

[62] Twenty-five years after the film's release, James Berardinelli criticised the concept of a laser-shooting satellite, and the performances of Jill St. John, Norman Burton and Jimmy Dean.

The website's consensus states, "Diamonds are Forever is a largely derivative affair, but it's still pretty entertaining nonetheless, thanks to great stunts, witty dialogue, and the presence of Sean Connery.