Rendering in Backbone.js using d3.js and svgs

Question

In backbone.js, a view's render function generates unattached html which can be later attached to the dom.

Currently, I have to have an existing target in the HTML for me to append a svg to. I then use the data/enter pattern to insert elements into the svg. Is there a way to get d3.js to generate the svg without attaching it to the dom?

var svg = d3.select("#target").append('svg')
    .attr("viewBox","0 0 100 100"); 

svg.selectAll("circle")
    .data(data)
    .enter().append("circle")
        .attr("r", 10)
        .style("fill", "black");

Alternatively, is it possible to provide d3 with a unattached dom element to append stuff to? Something like this? D3.js documentation suggests that select can accept nodes, but the following does not work for me either

var svg = d3.select(this.$el).append('svg')  // Uncaught TypeError: Object [object Object] has no method 'appendChild' 
    .attr("viewBox","0 0 100 100");     

svg.selectAll("circle")
    .data([1,2,3])
    .enter().append("circle")
        .attr("r", 10)
        .style("fill", "black");

Answer 1

I found the answer in this post SVG not rendering properly as a backbone view

d3.select(this.el) 

does the trick!