[1] The screenplay was adapted from the 1899 stage play of the same name, which in turn was based on the stories, "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Gillette had played the role of Holmes 1,300 times on stage before it was made into a "moving picture".

It was he who was responsible for much of the costume still associated with the character, notably the deerstalker hat and the calabash pipe.

[8] The restoration of the film was overseen by SFSFF board president Robert Byrne in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Française.

[4][9] The print that was found is a nitrate negative of the nine-reel serial with French-language intertitles that were translated from French back into English by Daniel Gallagher in consultation with William Gillette's original 19th century manuscripts, which are preserved at the Chicago History Museum.