The film was intended to be a serious sci-fi film with a $20 million budget. MGM slashed the budget to $8 million and had the script rewritten as a comedy.
After the pirates are captured, the spaceship approaches a domed city for landing. The same domed city sets were used in Logan's Run (1976).
As the slave cages are being unloaded on Mithra, the car and hovercraft from Logan's Run (1977) are visible in the background. Both resurface later as the pimp's and Zorn's vehicles.
Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek (1966), once jokingly said that this film was "singularly responsible for bringing back the death penalty to California."
In the control room where the alarm is triggered, the television screens are showing Rollerball (1975).