Tom Tataranowicz based the idea of He-Man throwing the Sword of Power into the abyss on a Prince Valiant comic in which Valiant threw away his singing sword. Originally he wanted He-Man to actually kill an innocent bystander by accident, but his idea was deemed too extreme and had to be toned down.
Bob Forward wrote the story based on Tom Tataranowicz's original idea. Forward included the character of General Tataran from The Arena (1984) because the General's name was based on that of Tataranowicz.
The village of Zak in the Crystal Sea was named after Tom Tataranowicz's wife, whose maiden name is Zak.
An early draft of the script included a line from King Randor referring to General Tataran's first appearance in The Arena (1984) in which he stated that the Royal Guard had handled the Goblins before.
The animation of Orko recoiling when he realizes Skeletor tricked He-Man is reused from Masks of Power (1983).