For a time Warner Brothers did not have a print of the original Technicolor version and it was assumed to be lost. The Technicolor version was finally discovered in the private collection of studio head Jack L. Warner after his death in 1978 and restored by the UCLA Archives.
Contrary to Technicolor's edict, Warner Brothers also shot a black-and-white version of the film. The Technicolor version was shot by Ray Rennahan and the B&W version by Richard Towers. The camera angles of the two versions are considerably different, with the Technicolor camera given priority for the best compositions. Two of these, for example, are Lee Tracy and Mae Busch in the house of prostitution scene and the sequence with Tracy in the skeleton room.
When the main character jokingly calls the cathouse piano player "Rachmaninoff" and asks him about "the prelude," the piano player responds with a flawless rendition of Rachmaninoff's famous Prelude in C Sharp Minor (Op. 3 No. 2).
The second film at Warner Bros. to be shot with the "improved" Technicolor two-strip "Process 3" that had a much finer grain, resulting in better color and clarity. The first one was Manhattan Parade (1931). Warner Bros. abandoned the format (as did other studios) due to its expense and lackluster box office.
The play of the same title opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA at the Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., on 9 February 1931 and had 80 performances.