Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, starring alongside Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward.

The episode received generally positive reviews, particularly for its fun tone, but with mixed responses for its attempts to address the racism and misogyny of the era.

Concurrently, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Melinda May, Deke Shaw, and Inhuman agent Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez attempt to interrogate Sharpe to find out more about Project Helius.

Though he puts up resistance, he eventually reveals Helius cannot function without a powerful energy source, leading Deke to deduce that the Chronicoms plan to sacrifice one of their own to activate the weapon and destroy the base.

Agent Daisy Johnson arrives undercover and convinces Sousa to free her teammates just as a pair of Chronicoms enact their plan.

The other agents regroup at their mobile headquarters, Zephyr One, while Sousa detains Coulson and Mack and Shaw pose as aliens to avoid changing history while returning Sharpe to the desert.

aired in August 2019, showrunners Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell revealed that the seventh season would feature the team trying to save the world from invasion by the Chronicoms.

[7]: 21:15 With the season renewal, main cast members Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward were confirmed to be returning from previous seasons as Melinda May, Daisy Johnson / Quake, Jemma Simmons, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez, and Deke Shaw, respectively.

[11] They had discussed having Gjokaj appear in previous seasons of the series, with discussion about revisiting Sousa with flashbacks at different points during the series,[12] or having Gjokaj reprise his minor role from The Avengers as a New York City cop,[13] before deciding that it would make sense to include him in a crossover with Agent Carter during the final season due to the time travel storyline.

alongside Tobias Jelinek as Luke,[6][14] Julian Acosta as Pascal Vega, Michael Gaston as Gerald Sharpe,[15] and Tamara Taylor as the Chronicom predictor Sibyl.

Taylor stated she had "no point of reference" for portraying Sibyl, but was given "some pretty key notes" such as to make her more soothing, calming, and in control than the other Chronicoms.

[19] Costume designer Whitney Galitz said the 1950s "didn't just mean poodle skirts and sherburts", and she wanted to use some saturated colors to contrast with the "dusty and muted tones of the desert town".

[21][22][23] Galitz wanted to stay true to the costumes used for Sousa in Agent Carter, while updating them for the 1950s setting and for his new position at the Area 51 base.

[21] Galitz created a custom suit for Coulson undercover using glen plaid fabric sourced by High Society.

The fan had to be turned off when it blew sand all over actor Michael Gaston, and due to the scene being filmed at the end of the day there was not enough time to retrieve an alternative.

Kolpack directed the visual effects for the scene to attempt to explain why there was no wind on Gaston by adjusting the angle of the Quinjet.

[34][35] References are made to Sousa's involvement in the second season of Agent Carter, including the defeat of Hugh Jones and the Council of Nine.

Moore also pointed out "the writers continue to have a deft handling of addressing issues of race and sexism" of the era, show the bathrooms being segregated and how General Sharpe might talk to Deke because he was a white male.

Unlike Moore, McLevy felt the attempt to address the social issues of the era were less successful, saying "The series is probably wise to keep tap-dancing around the virulent racism and misogyny of these past eras... but the only thing using it as a minor plot point does is remind the viewer of what lengths they're going to in order to dodge the subject the rest of the time".

[16] Michal Shick at Hypable called the episode "gosh-darned delightful" explaining, "From giddily feigned identities to terrifying moments that force agents to question their essential selves, "Alien Commies From the Future!"

However, Shick felt the series "still hasn't quite found its lane as far as translating historical attitudes towards race into its sci-fi aesthetic", with some of this commentary "land[ing] with something of an ungraceful thunk.