Do almonds smell like they do because of cyanide?
Almonds smell like they do mostly due to the presence of benzaldehyde:


  This colorless liquid has a characteristic almond-like odor. Benzaldehyde is the primary component of bitter almond oil and can be extracted from a number of other natural sources.


Hydrogen cyanide also has an almond-like odor, but it is not as pronounced as that of benzaldehyde. From CDC|Facts About Cyanide:


  Cyanide sometimes is described as having a “bitter almond” smell, but it does not always give off an odor, and not everyone can detect this odor.


Benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide are both byproducts of the enzymatic catalysis of amygdalin, which is present in almonds (and other foods). Have a look at this abstract (Toomey VM, Nickum EA, Flurer CL. Cyanide and amygdalin as indicators of the presence of bitter almonds in imported raw almonds. J Forensic Sci. 2012 Sep 57 (5): 1313-7) for more about the cyanide-amygdalin-almond connection.

In terms of safety:


  For a 70-kg human, the lethal dose is estimated at 50 mL. Benzaldehyde has been classified as a hazardous substance by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.


and


  Benzaldehyde does not accumulate in any specific tissues. It is metabolized and then excreted in urine.


Safety issues from benzaldehyde consumption $\it{via}$ the almond consumption route appear to be minimal.

From our sister SE site Skeptics in re: "How many almonds does it take to get cyanide poisoning?":


  With bitter almonds, 8 - 32 almonds will give you the lethal dosage of cyanide. Bitter almonds yield about 6.2 mg of cyanide per almond and the LD50 for cyanide is 50 mg - 200 mg.
  
  This applies only to bitter wild almonds: considering that you're not dead, you most likely ate domesticated sweet almonds, which apparently do not have this problem. The sale of wild almonds may be illegal, in fact, though I can only find blogs and internet comments alluding to this.
  
  From wikipedia
  
  Wild almonds are bitter, the kernel produces deadly cyanide upon mechanical handling, and eating even a few dozen at one sitting can be fatal.
  ...
  
  While wild almond species are toxic, domesticated almonds are not


Given the evidence and the expectation that you won't ingest several kilograms of almonds in a day or so, I'm comfortable in endorsing the almond as safe for consumption.