"Invaders from Mars" recounts its story from the point of view of an older child in an adult world heading into crisis. It was developed from a scenario by Richard Blake and based on a story treatment by John Tucker Battle, who was inspired by a dream recounted to him by his wife. The film was rushed into production to show in theaters before George Pal's "War of the Worlds" (also 1953), becoming the first feature film to show aliens and their spacecraft in color.