The 10 Aug 1918 Motion Picture News reported that actor Harry Mestayer traveled east to appear in the film. Three weeks later, the 31 Aug 1918 Moving Picture World stated that the company was on location filming “western ‘background’,” although its whereabouts were not specified. In the 7 Sep 1918 Moving Picture World, director William Dowlan discussed shooting a pivotal scene from the film in which a theater catches fire. When background actors failed to register sufficient terror, he instructed an assistant to fire two shots from a military revolver, which created the desired effect. Principal photography had recently been completed.
       The Atom opened 15 Sep 1918 to lukewarm critical notices. In addition to dismissing the lackluster plot, the 5 Oct 1918 Exhibitors Herald and Motography noted that the facial scars blamed for ruining the protagonist’s theatrical career suddenly disappeared in later scenes. The 28 Sep 1918 Moving Picture World included Charles Force among the cast.
       The genre of the picture was somewhat vague, based on reviews in the 15 Sep 1918 Wid’s Daily and 20 Sep 1918 Var, which described it, respectively, as a melodrama and a comedy.
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