During the wheat-burning scene a stand-in was used instead of Barbara Stanwyck, but she didn't think the stand-in acted as the character so Stanwyck decided to play it herself. This resulted in her getting some burns on her legs, but she never complained.
The blood during the fight between the two male leads was real. Director William A. Wellman had approached George Brent and Lyle Talbot individually about the fight scene and told both not to pull any punches. The two worked out the fight between themselves beforehand. However, when Talbot crashed into the wall as planned, his head struck a nail and he started bleeding profusely. He had to go to the studio's infirmary to get stitches after the scene ended.
The title The Purchase Price was for a different project that was announced for Barbara Stanwyck the previous year and then never made. This film began production under the title The Mud Lark. After it wrapped, it was briefly changed Night Flower before the studio settled on the actual release title.
The novel by Arthur Stringer upon which this film is based, "The Mud Lark", was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post magazine from November 28 to December 26, 1931.