The story is an adaptation of the comics storyline "Gladiator" (Superman #28-32, 1989), in which the characters of Mongul and Draaga are the main antagonists.
Bruce Timm described Maria Canals-Barrera's voice as the alien spectator J'onn converses with as "hilarious".
War Planet is based on Super Friends vs. Super Friends-season 2. Some of dialogue is lifted from Super Friends vs. Super Friends and the story is very similar to each other.