The Doctor ripping the strap off the ceiling of one of the small ships was originally an accident; the producers liked the idea so much that they filmed Matt Smith doing it again.
In the script it was not written in that River would land on the Doctor when she flew into the TARDIS. It was an idea that Matt Smith came up with in rehearsal that proved difficult to film.
Most of the Weeping Angels are not statue props but young women wearing masks, costumes, and paint that took two to three hours to apply. Adam Smith called them "an absolute nightmare to film with" because it took a long time for them to get ready and they had to stand still for long periods of time.
This was the first episode of Series Five to be shot, and therefore the first episode featuring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. This was the second time that a new Doctor began his tenure by recording something other than his first adventure. Peter Davison had initially taped his second story, Four to Doomsday, while his introduction in Castrovalva was actually the fourth of his serials to be shot.