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For your amusement, here are some interesting tidbits about the film, taken from IMDB.
 
On August 10, 2002, a fire started on the soundstage where the movie was shot. Nobody was hurt and the damage was estimated to be $350,000.

The movie is inspired by, and takes its theme from, the popular Walt Disney theme park ride of the same name.

Stick around after the credits for an additional scene.

References to the Disneyland attractions include (but are not limited to):

  • 3 uses of the song "(Yo Ho, Yo Ho) A Pirate's Life for Me" by X. Atencio and George Bruns in the opening scene (sung by young Elizabeth), when Jack and Elizabeth are marooned on the island, and in the end by Jack.
     
  • The jail scenes, in which the prisoners try to tempt the dog who holds the key to their cell. Jack says, "That dog is never going to move" - although the movie dog eventually does, the one in the ride doesn't. Jack later tries to tempt it with a bone, as does one of the audio-animatronic pirates in the ride.
     
  • The "burning town" sequence, and within it, the redheaded prostitute (who slaps Jack), and the "stuffed pirate" drinking the rum spurting out of a barrel
     
  • Jack's initial discovery of Gibbs sleeping with the pigs
     
  • The line "Dead men tell no tales", said by the macaw, which is repeated throughout the ride's narration
     
  • A quick shot of a skeleton sprawled on the beach of the Isla de Muerta, with a crab nearby
     
  • The final shot of dying Barbossa on the pile of treasure, still holding pieces of eight

Johnny Depp emulated Keith Richards in his portrayal of Jack Sparrow.

The title was originally just "Pirates of the Caribbean" but the name was changed in the hope that it would do well at the box office and a sequel could be made.

The first movie under the official Walt Disney Pictures banner to receive a rating higher than PG in the USA (this one being rated PG-13).

The movie's world premiere was located at Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in California, home to the original Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, on June 28, 2003. This was the first ever movie premiere at Disneyland.

Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack, is portrayed as having gold teeth in the film. These are real and Depp had his dentist implant those and others into his mouth for the production. Jerry Bruckheimer thought there were too many and asked him to remove all but a few.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski wanted to use the massive water tank in Baja, Mexico used for Titanic and Pearl Harbor, but Peter Weir's film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World had the tank booked during the time Pirates was scheduled to shoot.

The "walking under the row boat" scene is a direct homage to The Crimson Pirate.

The scene where Orlando Bloom impersonates Johnny Depp's performance was devised by Bloom who asked producer Jerry Bruckheimer if he could put it into the movie.

Johnny Depp said that his slurred accent was inspired in part by the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and the Looney Tunes' character Pepe Le Pew.

Orlando Bloom has a rag or some other piece of clothing covering his right wrist. This is to cover up his tattoo that he received during the Lord of the Rings shoot. The tattoo is that of the number "9" in "elvish".

Many of the crew got seasick while filming.

The evening after finishing filming the "stranded on a desert island" scenes, Keira Knightley and some of the crew were boating back when they heard a distress call. After searching for its source, they accidentally ripped a hole in the bottom of their boat causing it to sink. After wading their way to shore through a fire-coral reef, they were picked up by two Frenchman in a rubber dinghy an hour later.

The final cannon shot during the Black Pearl's siege of the town, billows into a Mickey Mouse head shape against the night sky

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