Lillian Gish learned that her mother had had a stroke in London and her sister, Dorothy Gish, urged her to get there on the first available boat. When Lillian informed director Victor Sjöström of the need to finish the film quickly, he created a shooting schedule that crammed two weeks worth of shooting into three days of non-stop work. The crew worked without complaint so that she could finish the film early and catch the earliest possible train to New York.
Greta Garbo was an almost-daily visitor to the set in order to be near her friend Lars Hanson and to speak Swedish to her to alleviate her homesickness.
At one point, Lillian Gish's Puritan costume from this film was housed in The Crocker Museum in Hollywood, the first museum dedicated to props and other artifacts from American films. The museum, located on Sunset Boulevard, was started by actor Harry Crocker circa 1928.
The speaking tube, also known as a courtship tube, was a real Puritan device. It was 6 to 8 feet long and appeared as seen in this film. Its purpose was for a couple to have private conversations and get better acquainted while being kept physically separate; in the small homes of the time, couples' chaperones could not overhear any "endearments" spoken.