The studio insisted on cutting the film instead of letting Erich von Stroheim do it as he was deemed to be too unstable after allegedly killing a dog during production. Von Stroheim would ensure they didn't do this to him on his next film Il grimaldello del diavolo (1920) by barricading himself into the editing suite with a loaded Winchester.
422 different titles were considered for the adaptation of "The Pinacle". The eventual choice was made by New York exhibitors from a shortlist of eight.
Erich von Stroheim had to agree to wave fees as writer and director in order to make this first film as writer director. However, he still got $200 a week to star.
In the documentary Autocrats (1980), Valerie Germonprez--Mrs. Erich von Stroheim--says the budget was $42,000 and the film went on to be one of the first to make over a million dollars.
The film underwent a 4K digital restoration in 2021 by the Austrian Film Museum, based for the most part on the 1921 Austrian release 35mm positive print they acquired in 1982, which is longer and close to the original release than the shortened 1924 re-release print held in New York's Museum of Modern Art. The English-language titles from the MoMA's print were used to replace the German-language ones (apart from two missing ones which had to be digitally recreated) and a new score by Andreas Eduardo Frank was commissioned. More details on the restoration can be found on the Austrian Film Museum's website.