Gaffes

When Sean hands Columbo the glass of champagne after the press conference, the Lieutenant tips the glass upside down, allowing the drink to spill onto the road. The camera then changes to a wide shot to reveal a stream of liquid that has run along the ground which is implied to be the champagne. However, it is an excessive amount of liquid - far too much to fit in a small champagne glass.

The postcard that Diane sent from Milan has a British postage stamp on it.

The killer places the body in a garment bag and hides it behind a wall. This would not mask the overwhelming odor of decomposition from entering the room.

Sean Brantley's (Ian Buchanan's) accent is inconsistent throughout the movie, his native Scottish accent often coming through in certain statements. However, while he certainly has US speech patterns (e.g. he says "lootenant", unlike Sir Harry who uses the UK "leftenant") there is nothing in the story to negate the possibility that Sean may originally hail from Scotland.

Colombo learns that the victim does not use cream in her coffee at the publisher's office just before he takes him to the airport to view security camera tapes. When they get to the airport, Columbo has already prepared a close-up shot of the victim using cream in her coffee as a significant fact that he would not have known when he first watched the tapes.

However, it is actually discussed later in the show that he had watched the footage already earlier, without knowing what exactly he was looking for.

Columbo appears in the opening credits walking around the pool *before* any crime is committed. He can be seen in the upper left of the screen when Alan Scarfe's name appears in the credits.

When the suspect reads the paper, it reads on the front: ''Lieutenant Columbo close to solving case of missing publisher''. This heading is really a sticker stuck on a newspaper.

In this movie, Columbo's familiar Peugeot can be seen in the opening title shot making a U-turn behind the white limo before Columbo is introduced and before the story begins.

During the opening sequence, Lt. Columbo is walking poolside. Note the patrons. Later (at around 1h 6 mins), the same poolside party and patrons, including Lt. Columbo, are seen from a different angle.

When Sean is showing Columbo the postcards, his hand position changes from front to back shot.

(At around 26 mins) The helicopter landing is a Eurocopter AS355 TwinStar Ecureuil 2 which has a 3-bladed main rotor; however, the sound heard is the loud "flapping" sound of a Bell UH-1 Huey with a 2-bladed main rotor.

When Columbo first meets the photographer, the photog is in a (nude) model shoot. The sound effect of the camera is that of a focal plane shutter, but the camera being used is a Hasselblad, which uses a Compur shutter, a leaf shutter.

Although Dian sends messages to Sean from various European countries (and she - or her murderer - left the United States entirely), no mention is ever made of trying to track or stop either of them by way of international Customs authorities.