Tsuru Aoki (Ume-Ko) and Sessue Hayakawa (Tatsu) were married in real life and would remain so until her death in 1961.
In 2014, The Dragon Painter (1919) was added to the National Film Registry for preservation by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Sessue Hayakawa was discovered when his self-produced production of The Typhoon (1914) came to the attention of producer/director Thomas H. Ince, who hired the entire company for a 1914 screen adaptation. Once his independent production company was in full swing, they turned out some 19 features in a three-year span. Sadly, many of these efforts have been lost over time.
Though it would be more poetically satisfying for the waterfall featured in the film to be Bridalveil Falls, considering Tatsu's mad search for his fanciful abducted princess wife, the actual location is more likely Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park, which falls into the Merced River and is consistent with Tatsu's vantage point and actions in the movie.
The final scene of the movie shows Tatsu and Ume-Ko on location at Yosemite's Artist Point.