Due to the success of F.W. Murnau's previous film, L'ultima risata (1924), the studio promised him an unlimited budget with which to make this film.
Until Metropolis debuted a year later, this was the most expensive German film.
Murnau used salt to simulate snow in the scene where Gretchen is trudging through the snowstorm with her baby. Large fans blew hundreds of pounds of salt at Camilla Horn, who later said it took hours to film the scene.
After the film had already been shot and edited, UFA decided it disliked Hans Kyser's script. Over Kyser's objections, it asked German writer Gerhart Hauptmann to work on it. However, the studio decided that it disliked Hauptmann's script even more. The film was released in Kyser's original version.
Director F.W. Murnau wanted Lillian Gish to play Gretchen, but she insisted that the film should be shot by her favorite cinematographer, Charles Rosher. Murnau instead cast newcomer Camilla Horn, whom he had met on the set of Tartufo (1925), where she was a double for Lil Dagover.