The movie was made out of the first five episodes of She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985) Its purpose was to introduce She-Ra' character for the new show that would accompany He-man as a sister show. The TV episodes were created first, and then edited into the feature film. This meant that the music score had to be restructured and a couple of scenes were tweaked (also see Alternate Versions)
The first "He-Man" feature film released on the big screen. Cannon films released a live-action feature film "Masters of the Universe" in 1987 starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. A new "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" movie has been in development hell since 2000.
Like the He-Man television series before it, this film was based on a popular line of toys. She-Ra and her rebel friends were all released as part of the She-Ra line. Most of the Horde characters (Hordak, Leech, Mantenna, Grizlor) were all part of the Masters of the Universe line. Catra was the only Horde member who was released as part of the She-Ra line, as she was originally intended to be She-Ra's arch-enemy, before Hordak was eventually given that role.
When Hordak shoots Madame Razz's Flying Ship out of the sky, the display on his control panel flashes the words 'die! die'.
In the scene where the Sorceress tells He-Man and She-Ra about how Hordak and Skeletor were about to capture both of them after they were born, Skeletor was originally supposed to wear a Horde uniform.