By the time the ceremony took place, the Best Documentary, Features winner March of the Penguins (2005) had out-grossed all 5 Best Picture nominees.
First time since 1962 that the four acting winners (Best Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon), Best Supporting Actor (George Clooney), and Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Weisz)) were all first-time nominees.
First time since 1957 that each of the top 6 awards - Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress - went to 6 different movies. These were respectively Crash (2004), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Capote (2005), Walk the Line (2005), Syriana (2005) and The Constant Gardener (2005).
Jennifer Garner, who presented the award for Best Sound Editing, had to have her ears pierced especially for the $250,000 diamond earrings she wore to the ceremony.
Each of the 5 Best Picture nominees shared a common theme of social issues: Crash (2004) (racism); Brokeback Mountain (2005) (homophobia); Capote (2005) (prisoners' rights); Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) (political persecution); and Munich (2005) (nationalism, embodied by Israeli-Palestinian conflict).