An item in the 24 July 1915 Moving Picture World remarked that the concluding scenes for The Second in Command were presently underway at Universal's Los Angeles studios, where Quality Pictures was headquartered. It added, "Important regimental scenes were taken on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home in California, where a stage was erected...by permission of the superintendent of the Home. The British Consul at San Francisco was consulted about the costuming and was interested sufficiently to attend the staging at the Soldiers' Home [at Sawtelle, in West Los Angeles], where he made several suggestions for verisimilitude. It may be said The Second in Command will be absolutely correct in all details representing British military maneuvers and military equipment." However, someone named Sutcliffe may also have been present, because he wrote in the 27 March 1915 Moving Picture World, under the heading "British Notes," that Universal "committed a few clumsy errors," such as having both a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of a regiment, and allowing actors to wear facial hair "despite the fact that British military men are forbidden" to wear whiskers. Also, "the uniforms, supposedly British, approximates more to naval than military garb." The earlier Moving Picture World article above added, "There are many scenes showing actual scenes of war in Africa between the British and the Boers, with a grand display of cavalry in motion and infantry and artillery in action." Also, a "Boer village of thirty houses" was built at the Soldiers' Home for the battle scenes, according to the 19 June 1915 Motion Picture News.
       An 8 May 1915 Motion Picture News item cited a 5 July 1915 release.
       The Second in Command was the first film of the Quality Pictures Corp., according to Peter Milne in the 7 August 1915 Motion Picture News. Milne praised the "realistic battles" between the British and the Boers. "Besides being exceptionally thrilling, these offer just the right amount of relief from the action which otherwise would be entirely romantic." He added, however, that the movie could have been improved if "some of the subtitles that are written in extremely flowery language could be toned down a bit."
       John Drew had starred in the Belasco stage success, but was not in the cast of the film. HIs role was taken by Francis X. Bushman, who had just signed a five-year contract with Metro, along with his costar, Marguerite Snow.
       According to the 17 July 1915 Motion Picture News, Quality Pictures' cameraman and laboratory superintendent had devised a "stereoscopic effect" for several stage scenes in the film: "In the making of a sixty-five-foot scene for The Second in Command, Mr. Alder simultaneously introduced several features including making a close-up diaphragming, "panoramaing," tilting, inserting a vision, and changing the focus while the camera was moving backward all at one time.....Another series of scenes for this subject worked out by Mr. Alder is that of following the leading players over a ballroom floor during the time they were dancing. This enabled him to secure closeups of the principals during the entire dance and use the other members of the cast and extra players for backgrounds." It is uncertain whether these effects ended up in the final film.
       The 7 August 1915 Motion Picture News noted that Metro screened The Second in Command at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, CA, on 15 July 1915.
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant