Directed by George Abbott with a single setting designed by Boris Aronson, the three-act melodrama opened September 26, 1934, at the John Golden Theatre, New York.

[1][2] On February 7, 1935, the play began a run at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, with Calleia, Joseph King and Robert Middlemass reprising their Broadway roles.

Praising Boris Aronson's set design and the performances of Ilka Chase, Myron McCormick, Elspeth Eric, Joseph King and Robert Middlemass, he reserved his highest praise for the featured actor: "Joseph Spurin-Calleia as the prisoner plays with such keen authenticity and such sensitive understatement of emotion that his scenes are enormously moving.

[10] Krasna adapted Small Miracle for the Paramount Pictures film Four Hours to Kill!, released in April 1935 and starring Richard Barthelmess.

[11] In 1944, Paramount Pictures announced it would film a new adaptation of Small Miracle, starring Alan Ladd; the project was not made.