Eugene O'Neill's play opened on Broadway, New York City, New York, USA at the Neighborhood Playhouse on 1 November 1920 and ran for 204 performances. Black actor Charles Gilpin played the title role, the first time an important black role was not played by a white man in black-face. There were 3 New York revivals; Paul Robeson played the title character in the 1925 production.
Fredi Washington's scenes were reshot using dark pancake makeup because she looked "too white" in the first rushes. It was feared audiences would think Paul Robeson was embracing a white woman.
About a half-hour of completely original material was added to the movie adaptation in order to give the main character, Brutus Jones, a more detailed backstory, leaving only about 45 minutes from Eugene O'Neill's play.
Because of the objection to the word "nigger", United Artists deleted it from prints to be shown in Negro theaters. Still, the United Negro Improvement Association condemned the film.
In his autobiography, Paul Robeson said he regretted making the film because it deviated too much from the play.
The jungle scenes were originally to be shot in the swamps of the American South, but when Paul Robeson signed for the film, he had a clause inserted in his contract that specifically prohibited filming in the South, due to that area's violent racist history and strict racial segregation. The scenes were filmed on a studio set in Astoria, Queens, New York.
The original Broadway production of "The Emperor Jones" opened at the Neighborhood Playhouse on November 1, 1920 and ran for 204 performances. Between 1925 and 1927 the play was revived three times, once with Paul Robeson who recreated his stage role in this movie version.
This movie inspired the creation of the Fiction House Publications villain Broot, an African-American gangster who became an African chieftain. Broot clashed with Ka'a'nga, the Lord of the Jungle, in several early stories in Jungle Comics before being captured by him.