Since the hull was only completed on the starboard side, the scene had to be "flipped around" when they were shooting the port side. It was not uncommon to see people walking around with "White Star Line" written backwards on their hats.
James Cameron actually went down to the Titanic wreck to see it for himself and to take the real footage that you see at the beginning of the film.
Most of the shots of Titanic at sea aren't real, but the real scenes were shot in Baja, Mexico. Many of the extras were Mexican people.
When Jack and Rose are "flying" and they kiss, the sunset behind them is real. They had to film the scene in only a few minutes before the sun went down.
The faces of the "frozen" people in the ocean were covered with a medical adhesive powder that crystallizes when water touches it. The hair and clothing were covered with wax.
Every woman in the film wore a corset, even if they were extras that were barely able to be seen.
James Cameron did many of the camera shots in the film. Some were even shot using a vintage hand-cranked camera. "They used to keep time on the hand crank by humming a familiar tune. 'Turkey in the Straw' yields a pretty consistent sixteen frames per second."
All of the extras in the film went through an etiquette class so they would know how people in 1912 talked, acted and moved. The waiters learned how to serve and what to say.
When the ship started to go down, it sent up flares. During the real disaster, there were no red emergency flares on Titanic, so instead the celebration flares were used. A ship did happen to see the flares but thought nothing more of them than a party on a ship.
The band that played below decks during the "third-class dance" is actually a band from Santa Monica called Gaelic Storm.
Most of the dancers in the "third-class dance" were professional dancers.
Remember when Molly Brown is telling the story about burning money in the stove? That's one of the famous tall tales she always told except it wasn't a fortune, a mere $75 and it was in coins, not bills.
It was James Cameron's hands you saw doing the sketch of Rose nude. He also did the other drawings in Jack's portfolio.
Although the water rising in the corridors of the ship was as cold as it looked, the water temperature when Rose was floating on the drift board was about 80 degrees.
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