Originally intended for wide theatrical release in January of 1981, the film was sold to television, after a brief limited theatrical release, where it premiered on 18 December 1980.
Actor Angus Scrimm filmed scenes playing a character called "Desert rat" but all of his scenes were deleted.
First of two filmed productions co-starring actress Jaclyn Smith and actor James Franciscus who the following year would both star in the 1981's made for television Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981) where they played 'Jacqueline Kennedy' and John F. Kennedy respectively.
The picture was notable for featuring a horrific third-act shower-scene where the device of attack is hot-steam from wall-jets. The sequence has often compared with the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror movie Psycho (1960). Nightkill (1980) was made and released approximately twenty years after that film.