The "zap" visual from the ray-gun toys was accomplished by a mirror glued on to the nozzle and pointed at the camera, which was hit by the "deadly" glare.
The dialogue was recorded first, then the actors had to rehearse and lip-sync to the prerecorded dialogue during the takes. This is the opposite of the normal procedure in which an actor's dialogue may be looped during post-production.
Unable to afford time on a soundstage to film Betty Morgan's home, director Tom Graeff posed as a UCLA student directing a student project. An elderly woman allowed him to film in her home for free.
The film's budget was so tight that the "focusing disintegrator" was actually a Hubley's Atomic Disintegrator toy cap gun, bought for a dime, with a flashbulb added as a beam. In some scenes, "Hubley's" is clearly embossed on the side of the gun. Atomic Disintegrators can be bought today on eBay for more than $300.