The delay that followed Harold Lloyd's last picture Movie Crazy (1932) was partly due to the fact that he could find no suitable story. He bought The Cat's Paw when Author Clarence Budington Kelland had finished only the first chapter, offered suggestions to make the part more to his taste. When the story was finished Lloyd was amazed to find that none of the antics which his private staff of "gagmen" usually arrange for him seemed to fit the plot. He finally accepted the advice of his director, Sam Taylor, to make the picture without his customary comedy inventions.
The novel upon which this film is based was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post from 26 August to 30 September 1933. Harold Lloyd paid $25,000 ($488,000 in 2018) for the rights to the story.
Grace Bradley and George Barbier were borrowed from Paramount, and Una Merkel was borrowed from MGM for this film.
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