Following the death of his father, the eleven-year-old Mickey Neilan had to give up on school to work at whatever he could find in order to help support his mother.

Hired by Kalem Studios for their Western film production facility in Santa Monica, Neilan was first cast opposite Ruth Roland.

After acting in more than seventy silent film shorts for Kalem and directing more than thirty others, Neilan was hired by the Selig Polyscope Company then Bison Motion Pictures and Famous Players–Lasky Corporation.

Initially, he had also been hired as the film's director, back when it was still a silent, but Hughes' overbearing style forced him to drop out, and he was replaced a few weeks into production by a more pliable director, Edmund Goulding; due to massive reshoots (as well as the recasting of the lead role with Jean Harlow), none of the footage Neilan shot made it into the final film.

In recognition of his contribution to the motion picture industry, in 1940 the Directors Guild of America conferred on him an "Honorary Life Member Award."