A Daughter of the Gods is a 1916 American silent fantasy drama film written and directed by Herbert Brenon.

The film was controversial because of the sequences of what was regarded as superfluous nudity by the character Anitia, played by Australian swimming star Annette Kellermann.

However, he more than likely saw and was influenced by David Belasco and John Luther Long's 1902 Broadway play The Darling of the Gods starring Blanche Bates, Robert T. Haines, and young George Arliss, which has a similar theme of reward for rescuing a child and a large ensemble cast.

After receiving the film assignment with its budget limit of $1 million, director Brenon visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City where he was inspired by paintings such as A Dream of the Arabian Nights by Villegas.

[1] The 100 women recruited from the US and Europe to portray nymphs underwent weeks of training by Kellerman to swim using a single stroke in unison and to avoid unnecessary splashing.

President Wilson and his wife, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, attended the film's December 18, 1916 showing at the Belasco Theater, where it opened in Washington, D.C.