SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo devises a plan to hold NATO to ransom by hijacking two atomic bombs from a RAF Avro Vulcan bomber during a training exercise.

British secret agent James Bond, recuperating at Shrublands after killing SPECTRE assassin Jacques Bouvar, notices Lippe and keeps him under observation, discovering Derval's body.

Bond pursues Largo and grabs hold of the Disco Volante as it sheds its rear half to become a hydrofoil to attempt escape.

Largo gains the upper hand and is about to shoot Bond when Domino kills him with a speargun in revenge after his hired nuclear physicist Ladislav Kutze frees her.

[17] Saltzman and Broccoli auditioned an extensive list of relatively unknown European actresses and models, including former Miss Italy Maria Grazia Buccella, Yvonne Monlaur of the Hammer horror films, and Gloria Paul.

Eventually, former Miss France Claudine Auger was cast, and the script was rewritten to make her character French rather than Italian, although her lines were dubbed in the final cut by Nikki van der Zyl, who had voiced several previous Bond girls.

One of the actresses who tried for Domino, Luciana Paluzzi, later accepted the role as the redheaded femme fatale assassin Fiona Kelly, who originally was intended by Maibaum to be Irish.

On arriving in Nassau, McClory searched for locations to shoot many of the key sequences of the film and used the home of a local millionaire couple, the Sullivans, for Largo's estate, Palmyra.

Due to the dangers on the set, stuntman Bill Cummings demanded an extra fee of £250 to double for Largo's sidekick Quist as he was dropped into the pool of sharks.

[17] The climactic underwater battle was shot at Clifton Pier and was choreographed by Hollywood expert Ricou Browning, who had worked on Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954 and other films.

He was responsible for the staging of the cave sequence and the battle scenes beneath Disco Volante and called in his specialist team of divers who posed as those engaged in the onslaught.

[5] While in Nassau, during the final shooting days, special-effects supervisor John Stears was supplied experimental rocket fuel to use in exploding Largo's yacht.

As the filming neared its conclusion, Connery had become increasingly agitated with press intrusion and was distracted with difficulties in his marriage of 32 months to actress Diane Cilento.

Connery refused to speak to journalists and photographers who followed him in Nassau, stating his frustration with the harassment that came with the role: "I find that fame tends to turn one from an actor and a human being into a piece of merchandise, a public institution.

"[23] In the end, he gave only a single interview, to Playboy, as filming was wrapped up, and even turned down a substantial fee to appear in a promotional TV special made by Wolper Productions for NBC, The Incredible World of James Bond.

[17] According to editor Peter R. Hunt, Thunderball's release was delayed for three months, from September until December 1965, after he met David Picker of United Artists, and convinced him it would be impossible to edit the film to a high enough standard without the extra time.

[24] Thanks to special-effects man John Stears, Thunderball's pretitle teaser, the Aston Martin DB5 (introduced in Goldfinger), reappears armed with rear-firing water cannon, seeming noticeably weathered—just dust and dirt, raised moments earlier by Bond's landing with the Bell Rocket Belt (developed by Bell Aircraft Corporation).

The rocket belt Bond uses to escape the château actually worked, and was used many times, before and after, for entertainment, most notably at Super Bowl I and at scheduled performances at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair.

[25] Bond receives a spear gun-armed underwater jet pack scuba (allowing the frogman to manoeuvre faster than other frogmen).

At Thunderball's release, there was confusion as to whether a rebreather such as the one that appears in the film existed; most Bond gadgets, while implausible, often are based upon real technology.

In the real world, a rebreather could not be so small, as it has no room for the breathing bag, while the alternative open-circuit scuba releases exhalation bubbles, which the film device does not.

"[28] On 26 June 2013, Christie's auction house sold the Breitling SA Top Time watch worn in the film by Connery for over £100,000; given to Bond by Q, it was also a Geiger counter in the plot.

[5] Barry then teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote "Thunderball", which was sung by Tom Jones, who according to Bond production legend, fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final note.

[35] After adjusting its earnings to 2011 prices, it has made around $1 billion worldwide, making it the second-most financially successful Bond film after Skyfall.

"[39] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times found the film to be more humorous than its previous instalments and felt "Thunderball is pretty, too, and it is filled with such underwater action as would delight Capt.

Additionally, he wrote: "The submarine sequences are as pretty as can be in Technicolor, featuring besides fish and flippered bipeds, all sorts of awesome diving bells and powered sea sleds – not to mention an arsenal of lethal spear guns.

"[42] Time magazine applauded the film's underwater photography, but felt the "script hasn't a morsel of genuine wit, but Bond fans, who are preconditioned to roll in the aisles when their hero merely asks a waiter to bring some beluga caviar and Dom Pérignon '55, will probably never notice.

"[43] Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune felt the dialogue was "so bad, it's great" and highlighted Auger as "probably the most genteel of all the Bond babies to date".

"[45] James Berardinelli praised Connery's performance, the femme fatale character of Fiona Volpe, and the underwater action sequences, remarking that they were well choreographed and clearly shot.

The website's consensus reads: "Lavishly rendered set pieces and Sean Connery's enduring charm make Thunderball a big, fun adventure, even if it doesn't quite measure up to the series' previous heights.