Sigmund Freud, whose book "The Interpretation of Dreams" largely influenced this film, was approached to serve as a consultant on psychoanalysis. Freud declined, believing that film could not capture the complexities of the science of psychoanalysis.
Considered the first film in which psychoanalysis serves as the main theme.
Unable to convince Sigmund Freud to serve as a consultant, producer Hans Neumann still tried to achieve the approval of the psychoanalytic community. Karl Abraham, part of Freud's inner circle and the President of the International Association of Psychoanalysis, was hired as the chief consultant for the project and promised 10% of the film's profit. Abraham tried, quite unsuccessfully, to convince Freud to endorse the project. The film caused a major rift in their friendship, which was never fully mended. Abraham died of cancer on Christmas Day 1925, before the film's release.
Part of Universum Film AG's (the Ufa Studios) Kulturfilm Abteilung, a special division of the studio whose task it was to develop educational and intellectual films.
Ufa Studios incorrectly announced Sigmund Freud's approval of the project, sparking rumors and stories from Vienna to New York. The New York Times reported on July 26, 1925 that "Psychoanalysis will be popularly explained through a screen filming which will be passed upon and partly directed by Professor Freud." Freud, so angered by the incorrect announcement, demanded retractions in several newspapers and publications, and even paid for a second notice to be printed in some.