Don Quixote was stage idol De Wolf Hopper's first film. According to the 24 September 1915 Variety, Hopper and Fay Tincher had already begun work on the film at the Triangle-Fine Arts Studio in Hollywood, CA. The 27 November 1915 Moving Picture World reported that director Edward Dillon was finishing up the last scenes. A photo caption in the February 1916 Film Fun, noted that the producers had a difficult time finding just the right horse to portray "Rosinante," Don Quixote's "lean and scrawny" steed. When they found a frail horse that fit the novel's specifications, Hopper refused to ride the poor animal until it gained a few pounds and he lost a few. As Hopper told the 29 January 1916 Motography, "In the make-up and costume of Don Quixote, which consisted principally of about two hundred pounds of armor and the most cadaverous appearance I could possibly invent, I made my first attempt to mount that world-famous horse of Cervante's called 'Rozinante.' The attempt to get on the back of that razor-back charger was the physical effort of my life. Feeling my more or less pronounced weight, he first went down on his front knees and then his back legs wobbled. When righted, he insisted on backing through the scene instead of advancing. Finally we got him to work, and he became the dear old pet of the whole company." Hopper also revealed that two of the locations for the film were Santa Barbara, CA, because of its old Spanish style homes, and a mountain in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.
       According to reviews, including one in the 4 March 1916 Moving Picture World, Don Quixote was shortened by one thousand feet, an entire reel, after its opening at the Knickerbocker Theater in New York. The 19 February 1916 Motion Picture News stated, "The entertaining but somewhat long filmation of Don Quixote, starring De Wolfe Hopper, has gone out to the coast for revision, and has been sent back lopped of superfluous material so that it is now a compact five-reeler."
       Triangle released Don Quixote and The Last Act on the same day.
       The February 1916 Motion Picture Magazine ran a short-story adaptation of Don Quixote illustrated by photo stills from this film.
       Other films based on the same source include a 1908 French version made by Georges Méliès; a 1923 British version directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Jerrold Robertshaw; a 1933 British version directed by G. W. Pabst and starring Feodor Chaliapin; a 1947 Spanish version directed by Rafael Gil and starring Rafael Rivelles; a 1957 Russian version directed by Grigori Kozintsev; a 1962 Spanish version entitled Dulcinea;) and a 1972 American version entitled Man of La Mancha (see entry), directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Peter O'Toole.
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant.