The movie is based on "The Sea Hawk", a novel by Rafael Sabatini. It premiered on June 2, 1924, in New York City. Its theatrical debut occurred twelve days later. A movie with the same title (but an entirely different story) was made in 1940. It stars Errol Flynn. The studio spliced some key battle scenes from the 1924 movie into the remake. The life-sized replicas were considered so well recreated, that Warner Bros repeatedly used them in later nautical films. The full-sized ship replicas cost the studio $200,000. The ocean scenes were shot off the coast of California's Catalina Island, with 150 tents set up on the island for housing and support of the movie's 1,000 extras, 21 technicians, 14 actors, and 64 sailors.