The Oct-Dec 1920 Exhibitors Herald announced that British author Elinor Glyn was writing the story for The Sheltered Daughter, a vehicle to be produced as Gloria Swanson’s first starring role at Paramount Pictures, and the 8 Jan 1921 Motion Picture News reported that the project’s name had been changed to The Great Moment. Sam Wood was set to direct, and production was scheduled to begin as soon as Swanson completed work on Paramount’s star-studded Cecil B. DeMille picture, The Affairs of Anatol (1921, see entry).
       On 15 Jan 1921, Motion Picture News stated that Glyn had finished the story, and Monte M. Katterjohn had been hired to write the scenario. That day, Moving Picture World listed an anticipated production start date of 7 Feb 1921. Katterjohn was still completing the scenario two days before that time, according to the 5 Feb 1921 Motion Picture News, which reported on 12 Feb 1921 that casting remained underway. On 19 Feb 1921, the publication stated that filming would begin “within the next week” at the Famous Players-Lasky studio in Hollywood, CA, and on 26 Feb 1921, shooting of exteriors was underway in the city of Burlingame, near San Francisco, CA. Motion Picture News reported on 2 Apr 1921 that Russian ballet dancer Theodore Kosloff was currently assisting Sam Wood during the filming of the “Russian sequence” on “elaborate” sets that had been constructed at Lasky studios. The production was “half finished” as of 26 Mar 1921, according to a Moving Picture World article published that day, which added that the filmmakers were back on location. The 26 Mar 1921 Exhibitors Herald featured a behind-the-scenes photograph on the rear observation platform of the California Limited railway train. On 23 Apr 1921, Motion Picture News announced that final scenes were being filmed that week at the Washington Hotel ballroom. Various articles in the 30 Apr 1921 Motion Picture News alluded to the production’s pending conclusion.
       While Swanson had been a leading actor for Cecil B. DeMille’s independent “super-special productions” for several years, The Great Moment was often referred to in the trades as her first major role for Paramount. In addition, the picture was the first theatrically-released film story written by Elinor Glyn, who had recently moved to the U.S. to work for Paramount. According to a 30 Apr 1921 Motion Picture News news item, Glyn performed a bit role in The Great Moment to imbue her future projects with “the player’s viewpoint.”