He owned numerous studios in Paris, mostly on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, but he also operated one at an old evangelical mission on the Rue Royale.

In 1898, Herbert sold the studio to the brothers Georges and Oscar Mascré (1865-1943), who continued to use Pirou's name without his permission.

He bought the necessary equipment in the summer of 1896 and, together with his employee, Albert Kirchner, who would later become a noted filmmaker in his own right, he filmed scenes of assorted events in Paris and showed them at the "Cinématographe Eugène Pirou" in the basement of the Café de la Paix at the Place de l'Opéra, with a projector designed by Henri Joly.

He and Kirchner later produced one of the first known erotic films, Le Coucher de la Mariée (generally called Bedtime for the Bride in English), starring an actress who went by the name Louise Willy [af; ca; fr; vo].

He also produced a short film about the Parisian visit of Tsar Nicolas II in 1896.