In 1942, father Jean-Marie Poitevin wrote and staged the play "La folle aventure" for the 300th anniversary of the foundation of Montréal. The film is an adaptation of the fifth act of that play.
Paul Guèvremont and most of the other actors of the play were employed during the shooting of the film which was done in Pont-Viau, now part of the city of Laval (north of Montréal). Poitevin used for scenes in China where the main character goes to work as a priest, documentary footage he shot in Manchuria in the 30s when he was a missionary there.