General:

• This was the first edition to not strictly circumnavigate the world (by crossing the International Date Line exactly once); once teams traveled as far east as India, they returned to the United States traveling westward through Europe and the Caribbean. However, the route does approach that of a graet circle on the globe.
• Brian Smith appeared in a Heineken commercial with Jennifer Aniston.
• Travelocity replaced previous show regular sponsors American Airlines Vacations and Royal Caribbean International. Besides trips, the company also provided a special prize of $20,000 in vacation money, won by Ron & Kelly (in a new random-prizing system) on Leg 9 after matching the marking on the bottom of a gnome.
• The winners were revealed in an online betting scandal, before the finale even aired.

Pre-Race:

• Joyce Robinson (as Joyce Agu) previously appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Ensign Gates, a background character who piloted the Enterprise.
• Three reality show alumni were part of this race. Engaged couple Amber and Rob Mariano both appeared on Survivor. Brian appeared on a Christmas episode of Fear Factor.
• 45 potential teams for the race were sequestered at a hotel before the race began. Since teams were not allowed to speak to one another, brothers Brian and Greg originally contacted Heidi and Megan by sending them milk and cookies through a waiter.
• Uchenna and Joyce were originally scheduled to appear on Season 6. They were sequestered in Santa Monica, California at the beginning of that race, but were cut at the last minute before the race began in Chicago.

In-Race:

• In Leg 1, The last Route Marker before the first Pit Stop was in solid red.
• Leg 3 featured a difficult Roadblock in which players had to eat four pounds of meat and organs. An unprecedented four players actually quit the food eating task: Rob, Meredith, Deana, and Patrick. Although it was not shown on television, Patrick quit the Roadblock but later decided to complete it. On TV, Patrick was shown eating and finishing the meat. He never took the 4 hour penalty, and finished a few bites ahead of Debbie, therefore arriving at the pitstop before they did.
• In Leg 5, Gretchen fell in the caves, traversing the rough terrain within and injured her forehead, suffering a cut that required a suture.
• A cameraman suffered minor injuries when Brian and Greg's Land Rover flipped as they were driving from the Roadblock to the Detour on the Leg 6 of the race.
• Host Phil Keoghan greeted teams at a race mat halfway through Leg 8 to hand them their next clue, marking the first time in the history of The Amazing Race that teams have stepped on a mat marker to be handed their next clue. Previously, teams only received route information stored in boxes or from locals after completing a task.
• In Leg 8, Meredith broke three bones in his foot after it had been run over during the elephant Detour, and later by a tuk-tuk. However, he did not reveal his injury to production, because he feared that it would force him to leave the race.
• Near the end of Leg 8, Lynn & Alex mistakenly went to Umaid Bhawan Palace which proved too costly and they were eliminated.
• In Leg 12 of the race, teams had to fly between Montego Bay and San Juan, Puerto Rico. What producers did not show, however, was a connection in Miami. Because American Airlines does not operate non-stop flights between Montego Bay and San Juan, all three teams and their camera crew caught one of American Airlines' three daily Montego Bay-Miami flights and connected in Miami onto Miami-San Juan flights.
• Controversy has surrounded the final leg of the race: when Uchenna and Joyce arrived at the airport in San Juan, both Rob & Amber and Uchenna & Joyce were sold tickets for a flight leaving later than one whose gate was about to close. While Rob & Amber managed to get on this earlier departing flight, Uchenna and Joyce were shown by the gate as the boarding corridor between the gate exitway and airplane began to shut. After a commercial break, the boarding corridor reopened to the gate to pick up Uchenna and Joyce. No explanation was given as to why the gate reopened, which has led to widespread speculation about intervention by the production staff. In the "Revisiting the Race" special feature on the Season 7 DVD, Uchenna, Rob, and Phil Keoghan deny the accusations of intervention by the production crew. Uchenna describes his experience with finding the same airline agent at the gate who had previously informed him that there was no earlier available flight. Rob describes Uchenna running around frantically trying to get onto the flight, which the final edited version of the show does not portray. Phil cites the fact that the decision to re-open the door rested solely with the pilot, and that intervention by the production crew would have resulted in someone leaking such information out.
  
  

  Post-race:

  • In a radio interview, Uchenna and Joyce said that they won the race by 45 minutes, even though Rob and Amber were 7 minutes ahead of them at the first Miami cluebox at Rickenbacker Causeway.
  • Lynn & Alex got married in Ottawa, Ontario sponsored by radio Hot 89.9. Amazing Race guests included Uchenna & Joyce, Gretchen, Susan & Patrick and Bianca & Debbie.
  • Lynn & Alex appeared on Real Gay, a "reunion" show of LBGT reality television participants (as did Chip from Season 4) which aired on Logo.
  • Rob and Amber's marriage in the Bahamas was aired on a CBS television special two weeks after the finale.
  • Brian Smith, who participated in the race with his brother Greg, dated Jennifer Lyon, a contestant from Survivor: Palau.
  • Uchenna and Joyce appeared on a special episode of the Style Network's series How do I Look?, where Joyce was given a makeover at the suggestion of Uchenna.
  • Ray and Deana married after the race. They eventually had their first child, a daughter they named Reagan.
  • Rob & Amber and Uchenna & Joyce were selected to race in The Amazing Race All-Stars.
  • Ron & Kelly broke up. Kelly is now married.
  • Rob & Amber and Uchenna & Joyce each received a letter from Susan & Patrick as part of a Roadblock task in All-Stars (the letter to Uchenna & Joyce was friendly and positive, while the letter to Rob & Amber was very negative). A still photo of Susan & Patrick from Season 7 was shown in the episode.
  • Lynn and Alex were in an episode of the Celebrity Edition of Decision House