According to Dan Auiler's book about Vertigo, it is unclear exactly why Coppel was chosen, but some sources state that he had briefly worked with Hitchcock providing uncredited contributions to To Catch a Thief. Hitchcock's Film Cameo Appearances: Alfred Hitchcock made a total of 37 self-referential cameos in his 56 films over a 50 year period (from 1927-1976), if one counts his off-screen narration at the start of The Wrong Man (1956).

In 'Sight and Sound' decade polls; Vertigo was voted best ever film in the 2012 Sight & Sound, film critics poll. Hitchcock's cameo in Marnie (1964) occurs about 5 minutes into the film.

James Stewart & Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', 1958 - Although Vertigo is considered a 'cult classic' today; it met with some negative reviews & poor box office receipts upon it's release, and was the last collaboration between James Stewart & Hitchcock. Hitchcock / Truffaut, ou "Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock", communément surnommé le "Hitchbook", est un livre de François Truffaut, paru en 1966 aux éditions Robert Laffont. After Tippi Hedren leaves her hotel room, she walks past Alfred Hitchcock in the corridor.
Hitchcock invented the famous combination of forward zoom and reverse tracking shot to convey the sense of vertigo to the audience. He turns and looks at the camera. Les premières apparitions d'Hitchcock dans ses films étaient guidées par la nécessité de faire nombre parmi les figurants de ses premières productions peu fortunées. Vertigo – Aus dem Reich der Toten (früher: Aus dem Reich der Toten, Originaltitel: Vertigo, dt.„Schwindelgefühl“) ist ein US-amerikanischer Spielfilm von Alfred Hitchcock aus dem Jahr 1958 mit James Stewart und Kim Novak in den Hauptrollen.

Très vite, ces brèves apparitions devinrent un jeu pour le réalisateur, puis une obligation car guettées par ses fans.

Coppel was hired in late September on a salary of $1,500 per week. The view down the mission stair well cost $19,000 for just a couple of seconds of screen time. En El cine según Hitchcock del cineasta francés François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock aseguró que su cameo inicial, en The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), tuvo un sentido estrictamente «utilitario, [pues] había que amueblar la pantalla».