Bit late to the party, but here are my thoughts (and I've read most of the posts, but not ever single one)...
It's a manual, and he doesn't stall it at the beginning. It looks to me something like, the car was off, he pushed the clutch in w/out the hand brake on (that's why the car rolls backwards), changes gear to reverse (that's the clunk, and the car was driven forward in 1st gear, parked and turned off w/out the hand brake on, left in 1st gear), and then presses the start button.
I think this is an M1 (or whatever it will be called) and NOT an iS because; A) there is no sunroof (at least that I can see) it may not be CF on this mule, but that's not the same roof on my car, and I doubt the iS will come with a sunroof-delete option; B) the wider track & wider fender front and rear - the iS isn't going to be offered with that option; C) the lower offset and wider wheels - again, no iS option for that.
Can't wait for the final details! Very exciting!!!
