Breaking Bad

Season 1

Pilot

1. A professor at the University of Southern California gave Bryan Cranston lessons in chemistry basics for the series. So Cranston was able to correct some writer's mistakes. An actual DEA agent showed the crew and the cast how to make crystal meth.
2. A plaque on the wall of Walt's home says he did research in proton radiography in 1985 that contributed to someone's Nobel Prize win. The winners of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Chemistry were Herbert Hauptman and Jerome Karle who won for their development of methods to determine crystal structures.
3. In the very beginning of the opening credits, the formula and molecular weight of Methamphetamine - C 10 H 15 N and 149.24 , flash on the screen.
4. Bryan Cranston sat in on numerous classroom sessions at Rio Rancho High School to develop his character.
5. The character Emilio was originally written to be Mexican-American. But after Japanese-American John Koyama was cast in the role, the character was rewritten to be of Japanese heritage.
6. The show was originally planned to take place in Riverside, CA, but was moved to New Mexico because the state offered an attractive tax rebate on production.
7. Bryan Cranston greatly impressed Vince Gilligan with the lack of vanity he brought to playing Walter White from the very first day of filming. His two major contributions to this in the pilot were A) having Walter wear faded, stained, unflattering white jockey shorts and B) growing a very thin, pathetic mustache. Cranston later explained the reason for the former is that Walter was so miserable that even his underwear would be pathetic, and the latter highlighted the pointlessness of his entire life because there was no point in even having a mustache if it was that wispy and embarrassing.
8. The school Walter teaches at was filmed in Rio Rancho High School in Rio Rancho, NM, a suburb of Albuquerque. Minor alterations to the school were made such as replacing the whiteboards in the classrooms with blackboards and the use of attendance bells.
9. One touch that Bryan Cranston wanted and got for Walter White's first appearance was for Walter to have a thin, ugly-looking mustache. Cranston's reasoning was that it would be striking for someone who didn't have classic rugged facial hair to pathetically try to look manly by having a mustache, but would be wasting his time even bothering to try if that end result was the best he could do.

Cat's in the Bag...

1. According to his MyShout page, Jesse lives on 9809 Margo Street.

...And the Bag's in the River

1. During filming, the introduction of Wendy the prostitute was briefly interrupted when a non-actor attempted to pick up actress Julia Minesci, mistaking her for an actual prostitute.
2. Jessica Hecht, who plays Gretchen, is married to the episode's director, Adam Bernstein.

Cancer Man

1. When Walt Jr. asks Walter why he's been acting strange as Walter fumbles with cash, the camera pans down to the crib to reveal a label by Tampico. This is the company Walter spoke about with Krazy 8 while chained in Jesse's basement earlier.
2. Ken's BMW convertible is the E36 model whose production ceased in 1999, so it is at least nine years old. Also the 318i was the cheapest 3 series convertible of that series with the smallest engine. Owner Ken seems to be doing a lot better in his own mind than in actual reality.
3. The character "Ken Wins," who is portrayed as the jerk driving the red car speaking inappropriately on the blue tooth cell phone at the bank, is also seen in Better Call Saul's episode "Switch" (Season 2 Episode 1).

Gray Matter

1. In this episode, Jesse turns down a job as a mascot for a local bank. When Aaron Paul was about 14, he took a job as a furry frog mascot for the radio station where his mom worked at the time.
2. In this episode, Bryan Cranston is in bed and he snuggles up to his wife's pillow. He grabs her face cream off of her nightstand and smells it. Bryan Cranston does the same type of thing when he played "Hal" on Malcolm in the Middle, but it was his wife Lois' Vicks VapoRub he was smelling.

Crazy Handful of Nothin'

1. Raymond Cruz putting the cigarette out on his tongue was unscripted.
2. The scene in which Walter stands up in the bathroom stall after vomiting was actually taken from a deleted scene in which Walter masturbates after a doctor's visit.
3. Walter White tells drug kingpin "Tuco" his name is "Heisenberg". Werner Heisenberg was one of the most important physicists of the 20th century and won the Nobel Prize for developing the theory of quantum mechanics. He is best known for the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which states that one can't precisely know both the exact location and the momentum of a particle at the same time.
4. First appearance of Walt's signature bald look.
5. When Walt blows up Tuco's office, you can hear Howard Dean's famous "Dean Scream" as the guys on the street run from falling debris.

A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal

1. This episode begins Walter's hat to further demo his new alias, Heisenberg.