The millionaire plot was based on an old idea Chaplin had for a short, where two millionaires pick up the Little Tramp from the city dump and show him a good time in expensive clubs, and then drop him back off at the dump, so when he woke up the Tramp would not know if it was real or a dream.
Chaplina je izumitelj Eugene Augustin Lauste leta 1918 pozval k sodelovanju pri zvočnem filmu, vendar odziva ni prejel.