Competition from the celebrated international tenors Enrico Caruso and John McCormack, who were also singing at the Met at that time, resulted in Smirnov's achieving limited success with New York audiences.

He would not sing in the United States again except for two performances of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades with the Washington National Opera—a semi-professional company not related to its present namesake—in 1926.

Smirnov became a citizen of the Estonian Republic on 4 February 1932, and took an active part as a soloist in the opera theater "Estonia".

His voice was plaintive in tone with easy high notes, great breath control, and a distinctive vibrato.

Smirnov's main tenor rivals in Moscow and St Petersburg prior to the 1917 Revolution had been Leonid Sobinov (1871–1934) and Ivan Yershov (1867–1943).