After visiting a male brothel in Los Angeles, director William Desmond Taylor decided to include a scene in which the film's protagonist was sold into white slavery.
The extras in the orphanage scene were reportedly all played by boys from a real Los Angeles orphanage.
In public speeches and interviews, William Desmond Taylor used the redemption at the end to justify the lewd plot points that preceded it. Often a defender of the moralist attacks on the film industry, he claimed a moral ending would have no significance if you did not witness the immorality the character suffered through.
Produced with the cooperation of Ben Lindsey, who appears in the film. Julia Crawford Ivers reportedly traveled to Denver, Colorado, to work with him on the screenplay.