Joseph Schildkraut was initially cast in the role of “Morton Bradley,” as reported in the 12 January 1930 New York Times. However, Schildkraut, who had recently played several gambler roles including “Gaylord Ravenal” in the 1929 film Show Boat (see entry), decided against playing another gambler and backed out of the film, according to a 4 February 1930 Los Angeles Times brief. He was replaced by John Wray, who was set to receive a $2,000 weekly salary to play Morton Bradley, as stated in the 12 February 1930 Variety. Bradley was said to be based on the real-life gambler Arnold Rothestein (1882-1928), who had also inspired the character “John B. Marsden” in the recent Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. film, Street of Chance (1930, see entry). (For additional information on Rothstein, please consult the entry for the 1934 Fox film Now I'll Tell.) A review of The Czar of Broadway in the 5 July 1930 Harrison’s Reports mentioned a recent glut of pictures centered around gambling and nightclubs, complaining that it was “a theme that has been done to death.”
       Principal photography began in Universal City, CA, sometime in February 1930, and ended by 20 March 1930, as announced in that day’s Exhibitors Daily Review and Motion Pictures Today. According to a 27 February 1930 Los Angeles Times item, lead actress Betty Compson had to work twelve-hour days to finish this film in time for her next, which was released as Midnight Mystery (1930, see entry).
       The Czar of Broadway opened in the U.S. on 25 May 1930. Just prior to that, the 14 May 1930 Exhibitors Daily Review and Motion Pictures Today reported that the picture was due to be distributed in the U.K., along with three other Universal releases including All Quiet on the Western Front and King of Jazz (1930, see entries), and the German-produced 1929 film, The White Hell of Pitz Palu.
       As stated in the 20 September 1930 Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, music for this picture was recorded by Everett Hoagland and His Troubadours.