Due to the brief running time of this comedy, it was originally distributed in April 1909 on a split reel with another Biograph release, a longer dramatic film titled The Winning Coat.

[4] Printed on a roll of paper 81-feet long, the copy was submitted by Biograph to the United States government shortly before the company released the film to theaters.

Almost immediately, as part of their daily routine, various housewives in the neighborhood approach the barrel and begin depositing into it bucketloads of ashes, the residue they have brought from their homes' stoves and fireplaces.

[7] Fort Lee, which is situated just across the Hudson River from New York City, is approximately 13 miles from the site of Biograph's main studio facility in 1909, which was housed in a large converted brownstone mansion at 11 East 14th Street in Manhattan.

[b] That early policy explains why filmgoers in 1909 referred to one of the actors in this film, the rising star Florence Lawrence, as simply "The Biograph Girl".

In her 1925 autobiography When the Movies Were Young, Linda Arvidson–a fellow actress and the first wife of D. W. Griffith–recalls Lawrence's anonymity, "It was some time before the company allowed the names of actors to be given out, hence 'The Biograph Girl' was only the intelligent appellation.

"[9] Biograph's non-identification policy for its leading and supporting actors accounts for many cast discrepancies and omissions in motion-picture references regarding early silent productions, especially in the cases of lost films.

A positive identification of the actor who portrayed the title character in A Sound Sleeper is clouded by conflicting citations in printed and online references.

[10][c] Since Cumpson also received no screen credit in Biograph's films, he, like Florence Lawrence, was referred to generically as the studio's "funny man".

In its April 17, 1909 issue, The Moving Picture World alludes only to the "Biograph funny man" in its brief description of the film's plot and its title character.

Biograph in its own published promotions of A Sound Sleeper refer to it simply as "a very funny short comedy"; yet, few impartial reviews or comments about the film can be found in either 1909 trade publications or in contemporary city or small-town newspapers.

[13]The Moving Picture World also had few comments as well about the comedy, stating only that its humor was "far fetched" and that the film was an example of Biograph's "pointless jokes" in its regular releases.