The expression for the transverse magnetization for the standard four pulse sequence employed in the construction of a double-quantum filter is derived for arbitrary phase angles. By use of this expression, it is demonstrated that the NMR signal intensity of the corresponding double-quantum filter is maximized when the phases and phase cycling of the pulses employed are determined in accordance with the coherence-transfer pathway formalism. Furthermore, the filtering action of the double-quantum filter is insensitive to perturbations in the phase angles of up to 15° around these values. For these variations in phase angles, the transverse magnetization of the double-quantum filter signal decreases by at most 10%. This decrease in signal intensity is due solely to the functional dependence of the transverse magnetization on the phase angles and not due to the breakthrough of other coherences.