Michael Balcon offered the film to Hitchcock in early 1925, when Graham Cutts, Hitchcock's jealous boss, would not let him work on his new film, The Rat.
Although shot in 1925, and shown to the British press in March 1926, the film wasn't actually released in the UK until after The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog was a massive hit.
Cinematographer 'Gaetano Ventimiglia' hid the camera underneath Hitchcock's bunk, in an attempt to avoid Italian duties. The unexposed film was confiscated and the crew bought new film to shoot on location, seriously depleting the film's budget. Later, the confiscated film was returned.