The film depicted episodes from the first fifty years of the RNWMP's existence, including: the Cypress Hills Massacre; the force's creation and March West; the force's relations with Indigenous peoples on the prairies; the founding of Fort Macleod; the pursuit of whisky traders and horse thieves; the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway; the Canadian sojourn of Sitting Bull and his followers; the Klondike Gold Rush; and modern police methods used in the 1920s.

[2] In addition, members of the Blood First Nation appeared in several crowd, camp, and action scenes, wearing traditional dress and riding their own horses.

He also intended the film as a corrective to the clichéd and inaccurate portrayal of the RNWMP and its members in the numerous "Mountie movies" that were churned out by Hollywood studios during the silent era.

Assistant Commissioner T. A. Wroughton, of the RCMP's "E" Division, served as the film's technical advisor, and led a squad of Mounties shown in the opening scenes.

[8] The Western Pictures Company announced Policing the Plains in March 1924, and planned a summer release at the British Empire Exhibition.

[9] The town of Macleod was holding its 50th-anniversary celebration at the time, and Kean took advantage of the occasion to obtain background colour and scenery for his feature.

Between February and April, he shot and re-shot sequences on Vancouver Island; these scenes dealt with drug smuggling, with Victoria Harbour and other local waterfronts used as locations.

In April or May, he was filming near the RCMP barracks in Point Grey, where another stockade replica had been erected for re-takes of the whiskey trader sequence.

[19] Kean planned to show the finished film at the 1927 Canadian National Exhibition, but problems in developing the footage made him miss the deadline.

"[22][23] Kean stated that Famous Players refused to show the film and was critical of the American monopoly over the Canadian theatre industry.

Kean left the film industry after this failure and moved to the Toronto area, where he worked as a broadcaster, journalist, photographer, and horse trainer.

[28] Filmmaker Gordon Sparling stated that Kean's commitment to the film despite its production problems was "a good example of someone with a burning light ahead of him, trying to accomplish something".

[29] Historian Colin Browne wrote that Kean "appears to have worked with singular vision and enthusiasm long before people thought of a film as a director's medium".