Several years after the film was made, alcoholism had taken its toll on lead actor James Murray, who was reduced to panhandling in the street. Ironically, one of the passers-by he solicited for money turned out to be King Vidor, who offered him a part in the film's semi-sequel, Unser tägliches Brot (1934). Murray declined the offer, thinking it was only made out of pity. He died in 1936 at the age of 35 in a drowning incident. Vidor was sufficiently compelled to write his life story as an unrealized screenplay, which he called "The Actor".
King Vidor used hidden cameras for many scenes on New York City streets using real crowds instead of extras, real buses and trains and even real traffic cops. In one scene a police officer is looking toward the camera, admonishing someone to "move along". In fact, he was actually addressing Vidor and his disguised film crew. Vidor cleverly incorporated it into the scene.
One of 31 films that Joseph Farnham wrote the title cards for in the 1927-28 period. Farnham was awarded an Oscar for Best Title Writing in 1928, the only time in the Academy's history that this award was given out. He died two years later, giving him the unique distinction of becoming the first Academy Award winner to die.
Despite the film's widespread critical and (mild) box-office success, MGM head Louis B. Mayer despised it, partly because of the depressing theme but mainly because he thought it was obscene due to the bathroom scene that featured a toilet.
King Vidor deliberately chose not to cast any big-name stars in his film, which was a tale of the Everyman. James Murray was a studio extra whom Vidor had bumped into on the studio lot, while Eleanor Boardman was a minor MGM contract actress (and the director's second wife).