This was Orson Welles' final film before his death on October 10, 1985 at the age of 70. He recorded his lines five days prior, on October 5.
This film is considered the "bridge" between the second and third seasons of The Transformers (1984), as several third-season characters are introduced here and several first-season characters are killed or altered (e.g. Megatron to Galvatron).
IDW published its own adaptation of this film in 2006. This includes extra scenes such as a battle between the missing combiners and Omega Supreme at the Ark and Shockwave and Reflector being destroyed by Unicron.
Director Nelson Shin and story consultant Flint Dille have confirmed that Orson Welles had a hard time recording his lines due to his failing health. Most of his lines included labored breathing and heavy wheezing. Shin considered most of Welles' dialogue unusable, but put the recordings through a voice synthesizer to give Welles' voice a clearer, more ominous tone. According to Shin, Unicron's on-screen voice is an enhanced, synthesized version of Welles' voice.