An apparatus and method are described for improving the efficiency of graphics operations in a virtual execution environment. For example, one embodiment of a system comprises: a classification module to detect graphics application programming interface (API) calls in a guest execution environment and responsively classify the graphics API calls as originating from an application or a system component; the classification module to associate information with each of the graphics API calls to indicate whether each of the graphics API calls originated from the application or from the system component; and an enhanced graphics API translator (EGAT) to translate the graphics API calls to a format executable in a host execution environment, the EGAT to identify each of the API calls as originating from the application or the system component using the information associated with the graphics API calls by the classification module, the EGAT comprising: a first translation sequence to translate the graphics API calls to a first set of translated graphics API calls if the graphics API calls originated from the application; and a second translation sequence to translate the graphics API calls to a second set of translated graphics API calls if the graphics API calls originated from the system component, the first set of translated graphics API calls being different from the second set of translated graphics API calls.