In order to prevent his Mongolian appearance to open the door to the character being seen as racist due to his villainous nature, Ming the Merciless' appearance was recreated as a more alien and rather inhuman one.
When the show was first presented, Jedda Walker and Rick Gordon were going to be children of the opposite fathers their characters ended up with, The Phantom and Flash Gordon respectively. Rick's name was originally Kit.
Ming's AI Octon is named after a crime lord enemy of Mandrake the Magician's.
Flash Gordon, Mandrake, Lothar, and the Phantom previously appeared in animation together in Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter.