Both Lloyd and Hal Roach would haul the initial cuts of their films to theaters in the outskirts of Los Angeles for unannounced test screenings. They would carefully gauge the reactions of these audiences to individual scenes and re-cut the films accordingly. This film was unusual in that it was conceived as a 2-reel short but the 4-reel (just over 40 minutes) first cut tested so strongly with the test audience they were loathe to cut any of it. By audience default, it became his first feature-length comedy, by accident.
Released on 25 December 1921, it grossed $485,000. The success of this film as a feature led Lloyd to abandon making 2-reel shorts. His next film, Grandma's Boy was designed from the start as a 5-reel feature and would be released nine months after _Sailor Made Man, A (1921)_.
With the release of this film, Harold Lloyd became just the second silent comedian to release a feature-length film.