Diary of a Madman was a dramatisation of the short story of the same name by Nicolai Gogol. It  was shot on A Stage, Ardmore Studios, Bray , Co. Wicklow.

The film was scripted as a monologue from Poprischin's diary pages as he maniacally writes in his bedroom in St. Petersburg. Seven other sets were built to accommodate flashback / fantasy sequences and the final scenes in the lunatic asylum.