Being the 40th anniversary of the franchise, the film includes references to every previous Bond film. Some are more subtle than others.
- The book James carries around to maintain his cover as an ornithologist, Birds of the West Indies, is written by a real-life person named James Bond. That book's author's name is how Ian Fleming came up with the fictional character's name.
- Dr. No:
- Jinx walks out of the ocean in a bikini, wearing a white belt and diving knife, just like Honey Rider.
- The electronic sounds heard in the gunbarrel of Dr. No can be heard briefly when Bond escapes the boat-hospital where he is confined.
- Zao's new appearance leaves him bald with no eyebrows or any other body hair, exactly how Dr. No appears in the book.
- Jinx's pistol of choice is a Beretta - the same make of gun that Major Boothroyd dismissed as being a ladies' gun.
- From Russia with Love:
- When Bond and Jinx first meet, Jinx says, "My friends call me Jinx" and Bond answers, "And mine call me James Bond." It is pretty much the same exchange as Bond and Tatiana Romanova made: Romanova says, "My friends call me Tania" and Bond answers, "And mine call me James Bond."
- Bond discovers Chang watching him in his hotel room with a woman, referring to Red Grant and Rosa Klebb watching him in his room with Romanova.
- The shoe with the poison-tipped blade and the briefcase that contains a hidden knife are seen in Q's laboratory.
- Bond mentions having thrown away his Cyanide Pill. That pill was issued with the briefcase in the original novel, and was promptly flushed down a toilet.
- Goldfinger:
- When Bond arrives at the North Korean base in The Teaser, he removes his wet suit to reveal a suit which looks more formal, like in the teaser of Goldfinger; just not a tuxedo this time.
- Bond drives a gadget-laden Aston Martin, complete with ejector seat.
- Jinx is nearly killed by a laser in Mr. Kil's laboratory.
- Graves dies almost like Goldfinger, falling from a plane, with the only difference that Graves is sucked by the turbine.
- When John Cleese's Q tells Bond he learned from his predecessor to never joke about his work, he references Desmond Llewelyn's Q saying "I never joke about my work, 007."
- Bond wins against Graves in his favourite sport for his favourite commodity, with Graves staking the cash equivalent.
- Thunderball:
- When Bond is in the gene therapy clinic, he eats two grapes he takes from a room, like he did at Shrublands.
- The jetpack is seen in Q's laboratory.
- Bond employs a small rebreather like he did in that film.
- You Only Live Twice:
- Bond fakes his own death so that enemy agents will not expect him just like he did in You Only Live Twice.
- Scenes of the Icarus' unfolding in space are visible on screens in the ice palace, just like scenes of SPECTRE space ship unfolding in space are visible on screens in the volcano lair.
- On a meta-level, the bell from which Bond hangs on while Moon falls to the waterfall at the end of The Teaser is the same used in his fake wedding with Kissy Suzuki.
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service:
- Graves causes a huge avalanche to try to kill Bond, just like Blofeld did. In both cases, Bond uses the avalanche to cover his escape.
- Bond's office in Universal Exports can be seen.
- The uniforms worn by Graves' henchmen are similar to those used by Blofeld's henchmen at Piz Gloria.
- The acronym OHMSS is visible on a compact disc on Moneypenny's desk at the end of the film.
- Diamonds Are Forever:
- Graves remarks "Well, diamonds are for everyone" while fencing with Bond, and in the High Life magazine article about Graves' company, there is a caption that reads "Diamonds are forever, but life isn't."
- Both films have diamonds being used to build a giant space laser Kill Sat to neutralise ground-based military defences by a villain that seemingly is Killed Off for Real in the teaser, has access to technology to alter his appearance and impersonates a respected industrialist.
- Live and Let Die:
- At one point, Bond uses a revolver instead of his signature Walther.
- Icarus' laser causes a string of explosions in a minefield, similar to the string of explosions caused when Bond detonated Kananga's poppy fields.
- The Man with the Golden Gun:
- The villain employs a solar-powered superweapon like Scaramanga, although Scaramanga's was simply a ray gun as opposed to a satellite.
- When Bond arrives at the gene therapy clinic, he walks through a hallway decorated with psychedelic lights and rotating mirrors, which reminds of Scaramanga's funhouse.
- Once again, Bond finds himself removing a precious object from the navel of an attractive woman; here is a diamond from Jinx, in TMWTGG it was a golden bullet from the belly dancer, Saida. At least with Jinx, he's just doing it for fun.
- The Spy Who Loved Me:
- Graves deploys a Union Jack parachute, just like Bond did in TSWLM.
- Bond has his final showdown with the villain after an exotic construction of the villain sinks down; the ice palace here, the Liparus supertanker in TSWLM.
- Moonraker:
- There is a character named Chang, just like in Moonraker.
- Both films have a scene where Bond and a villain fight each other over a parachute.
- Graves' ice palace has an artificial tropical environment. Drax's launch facility in Moonraker was in a tropical environment, the Amazon jungle.
- Bond and Graves having a swordfight and destroying antiques all around them is similar to Bond and Chang having a fight (in which Chang has a wooden kendo sword) and destroying glass antiques all around them in Moonraker.
- Moonraker (the novel):
- Graves has many things in common with Sir Hugo Drax. Such as originally working for a totalitarian regime, having plastic surgery to change his original appearance, becoming a respected billionaire due to mining, actually holding hatred towards the English, is beloved by England, uses his fortune to build a space program to solve the world's problems that is actually a lethal superweapon and having a very extravagant lifestyle.
- Like Gala Brand, Miranda Frost is cold and professional, rebuking James's advances and actually loving someone else. The only differences are that while Gala warms up to Bond and becomes a valuable ally, Miranda does not.
- For Your Eyes Only:
- The yellow diving helmet is visible in Q's lab.
- Octopussy:
- Several gadgets from this film are seen in Q's lab: the AcroStar MiniJet, the crocodile submarine, the "magic rope" and the five-pointed knife.
- Jinx's jump to the sea is similar to Magda's jump from the balcony.
- A View to a Kill
- The electronic snooper is seen in Q's lab.
- Bond ends up suspended from an icy cliff, just like a Russian guard in the pre-credits sequence of A View to a Kill. Afterwards, Bond uses a hatch from the back of a car as an improvised snowboard, much like he did with the snowmobile tread.
- Bond is detected by the villains using facial-recognition software.
- The Living Daylights:
- The first thing shown after the gunbarrel are the North Korean shores, which look remarkably similar to the coast of Gibraltar that appears after the gunbarrel in The Living Daylights.
- Both films have Bond escaping from a plane with the Bond Girl after a fight that ends with a villain getting thrown off from said plane; Graves here, Necros in The Living Daylights.
- The Aston Martin has nails in the tyres as the Aston Martin used in The Living Daylights.
- Miranda Frost is set up to be the first blonde Bond Girl since Kara Milovy until we find out that she's really the mole.
- Licence to Kill:
- Bond goes rogue and M rescinds his licence to kill, just like in Licence to Kill.
- GoldenEye:
- Bond's laser watch from GoldenEye returns in this film.
- Jinx sets the bomb timer to three minutes, just like Bond did in the chemical weapons stockpile.
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The artificial intelligence in Bond's car has the same voice as it did in Tomorrow Never Dies; the only difference is that the Vanish's A.I. speaks with a British accent while the BMW's A.I. had a German accent.
- Bond is shown to indeed hide a pistol under his pillow, as Paris Carver mentioned.
- Bond rescues a female agent that he's allied with from drowning in frigid waters, and succeeds in resuscitating her with mouth-to-mouth. Moreover, he thanks a female doctor for giving him the Kiss of Life; he himself offered an underwater version to Wai Lin.
- The World Is Not Enough:
- Bond is betrayed by a woman he has slept with.
- There's a geodesic dome like in The World Is Not Enough.
