It was directed by Lee Tamahori, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

[5] It received mixed reviews; some critics praised Tamahori's direction, but others criticised the reliance on CGI, product placement, the story and the villain.

MI6 agent James Bond infiltrates a North Korean military base where Colonel Tan-Sun Moon is trading weapons for African conflict diamonds.

After fourteen months of captivity and torture at the hands of the Korean People's Army, Bond is traded for Zao in a prisoner exchange across the Bridge of No Return.

In Havana, Bond meets with NSA agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson and follows her to a gene therapy clinic, where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring.

Zao escapes, leaving behind a pendant which leads Bond to a cache of conflict diamonds bearing the crest of the company owned by British billionaire Gustav Graves.

Bond learns that Graves only appeared a year prior, apparently discovering a vein of diamonds in Iceland leading to his current wealth and celebrity.

At his ice palace in Iceland, Graves unveils a new orbital mirror satellite Icarus, which is able to focus solar energy on a small area and provide year-round sunshine for agriculture.

Bond rescues her and discovers that Graves is Colonel Moon, who has used the gene therapy technology to change his appearance and amassed his fortune from conflict diamonds as a cover.

[4] Tamahori confirmed to Total Film in 2002, having pitched a scene where Brosnan's 007 meets an older, former-007 in Scotland played by Sean Connery but was advised it was "too dangerous" to have two 007s in one movie.

The scenes involving the Cuban locations of Havana and the fictional Isla de Los Organos were filmed at La Caleta, Spain.

[16] Gadgets and other props from every previous Bond film and stored in Eon Productions' archives appear in Q's warehouse in the London Underground.

In the film, Switchblades (one-person gliders resembling fighter jets in shape) are flown by Bond and Jinx to stealthily enter North Korea.

Kinetic Aerospace Inc.'s lead designer, Jack McCornack was impressed by director Lee Tamahori's way of conducting the Switchblade scene and commented: "It's brief, but realistic.

[24] The title song for Die Another Day was co-written and co-produced by Mirwais Ahmadzai and performed by Madonna, who also had a cameo in the film as Verity, a fencing instructor.

In a MORI poll for the Channel 4 programme "James Bond's Greatest Hits", the song was voted 9th out of 22, and also came in as an "overwhelming number one" favourite among those under the age of 24.

[28] The eleventh-generation Ford Thunderbird was featured in the film as Jinx's car, with a coral colour paying homage to a paint option for the original model, and matching her bikini.

The event took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were guests of honour.

[40] For six months, they were both the latest films to return to the top spot at the box office, until Finding Nemo joined the group in June 2003.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Its action may be a bit too over-the-top for some, but Die Another Day is lavishly crafted and succeeds in evoking classic Bond themes from the franchise's earlier installments.

[48] Kyle Bell of Movie Freaks 365 stated in his review that the "first half of Die Another Day is classic Bond", but that "things start to go downhill when the ice palace gets introduced.

"[50] Gary Brown of the Houston Community Newspapers also described the weak point of the film as "the seemingly non-stop action sequences and loud explosions that appear to take centre stage while the Bond character is almost relegated to second string.

[27][28] The producers subsequently chose to limit the number of companies involved in product placement to eight for the next Bond film, Casino Royale, in 2006.

[62] Die Another Day was novelised by the then-official James Bond writer, Raymond Benson, based on the screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

So, for example, the non-bodywork elements of the Aston Martin with its 'cloaking' function (the glass windows and rubber tyres) are described as having retractable covers to achieve the invisibility effect.

[63] After its publication, Benson retired as the official James Bond novelist; a new series featuring the secret agent's adventures as a teenager, by Charlie Higson, was launched in 2005.

In the late 1990s, MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on Michelle Yeoh's character, Wai Lin, in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.

[67] MGM instead decided to reboot the James Bond franchise with the next film, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig portraying the role of the titular character.

[68] In 2020, Berry revealed that the film was cancelled over its $80 million budget, saying: "Nobody was ready to sink that kind of money into a black female action star.

"[69][70] Purvis and Wade said that this decision was influenced by the failure of several action films with female stars, including Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, in 2003.