This film was initially titled Escape, after the 1924 novel by Alden Brooks upon which it was based. An item in the 31 January 1925 Moving Picture World announced that Josef von Sternberg, who had recently made his feature film directorial debut with Salvation Hunters (1925, see entry), was set to direct. Shortly after, a 14 February 1925 Moving Picture World brief announced that principal photography was beginning at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.’s studio in Culver City, CA. The completion of filming was reported in the 11 April 1925 Exhibitors Herald. Early the next month, the 9 May 1925 issue noted that titles were being inserted.
       Nearly a year passed before new reports on the picture appeared in trade magazines. On 17 February 1926, Variety indicated that von Sternberg had left hastily for Europe before the film was edited and had only just returned to resume post-production. An article in the March 1926 Motion Picture Director acknowledged that the studio had shelved the film due to “petty differences between producer and director,” but that von Sternberg was eventually asked to return and complete the picture for release. Modern sources indicate that, in the meantime, von Sternberg was replaced by director Phil Rosen, who continued to shoot with the same cast and sets, although the story and characters were altered to such a degree that a new picture was created; this version was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as Heaven on Earth (1927, see entry). John Baxter’s 2010 book, Von Sternberg, claimed that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had tasked producers Hunt Stromberg and Eddie Mannix with fixing the film after von Sternberg’s departure, and a proposal for a screwball comedy reworking, written by husband-and-wife duo Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton, had been accepted for Phil Rosen to direct. William Wellman, Jr.’s 2015 biography of his father, Wild Bill Wellman, claimed that William A. Wellman had also served as an interim director, prior to the hiring of Phil Rosen.
       The Exquisite Sinner, on which von Sternberg received sole directing credit, was released on 28 March 1926, and Heaven on Earth, on which Rosen received directing credit, came out nearly a year later on 5 March 1927. The Exquisite Sinner received mixed reviews, although a largely positive one in the 28 April 1926 Variety deemed it “a fanciful, wild and romantic sort of a story.”
       Advertisements in the July 1925 Standard Casting Director identified Robert Graves, George B. Williams, and Gertrude Van Lent as cast members.
       The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this picture on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021.