The first "dolly" (a device that allows a camera to move during a shot) was created for this film. According to Edgar G. Ulmer, who worked on the film, the idea to make the first dolly came from the desire to focus on Emil Jannings' face during the first shot of the movie, as he moved through the hotel. They obviously didn't know how to make a dolly technically, so they created the first one out of a baby's carriage. They then pulled the carriage on a sort of railway that was built in the studio.
The film only uses title cards to explain the job replacement and in the end for the epilogue; but none are ever used for dialog.
According to Alfred Hitchcock, who was working in Germany at the UFA studios at the time of this production, F.W. Murnau had all the street signs, posters and shop signs done in a version of Esperanto.
Actor-director Lupu Pick, who had worked with writer Carl Mayer before, was originally supposed to play the doorman but got into a disagreement over the way the character was portrayed and so was replaced by Emil Jannings.