Prior to 2016, the Star Trek rights holders, primarily Paramount Studios, had generally allowed fan-made projects to move forward just "as long as they agreed not to sell anything—including tickets, merchandise, or copies of the finished film or series".

[2] The film's makeup was by Kevin Haney, sound design was by Frank Serafine,[11] and visual effects were the work of Tobias Richter[10] and Tommy Kraft.

The film is presented as one episode of a Federation documentary pertaining to a "Four Years War" (a supplement of FASA's Star Trek: The Role Playing Game in the 1980s) with the Klingon Empire, narrated by fictional noted historian John Gill (who appeared in "Patterns of Force") and featuring interviews of participants on both sides.

The events depicted reportedly precede Star Trek: The Original Series by two decades, with the war's opening battle at Arcanis IV, a prosperous Federation colony along the Klingon border.

The Vulcan diplomatic delegation under Ambassador Soval (who appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise), overseeing negotiations with the Klingons, are left with little room to maneuver.

In response to the losses suffered in the war, Starfleet appoints a new Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Marcus Ramirez, who pledges in a fleet-wide broadcast to defend "the dream of the Federation" against the Klingons' commitment to its destruction.

Jana Monji of RogerEbert.com spoke during the film's private red carpet screening at the Horton Plaza UA Cinema prior to its debut at San Diego Comic-Con, and offered that involvement of known acting talent dedicated to the genre and to Prelude to Axanar might increase Star Trek fan influence at such events.

[11] Guardian Liberty Voice wrote "The acting is superb, including appealing performances from Gary Graham as a Vulcan ambassador, Richard Hatch as the sweet-eyed Klingon General Kharn and the magnetic Kate Vernon as Starfleet Captain Sonya Alexander", and praised the film, writing "Prelude to Axanar is of the highest Hollywood-style production quality and a must-see for any devotee of the franchise.

"[8] Entertainment News International drew the conclusion that "Axanar is a ground breaking independent film that proves the idea that a studio doesn't need to spend millions of dollars to produce a feature quality production.

[11] Approximately $200,000 of the funding happened in the campaign's final 49 hours, after Star Trek alum George Takei shared his interest publicly, bringing production more than six-times the originally sought amount of $100,000.

On January 3, 2016, Alec Peters announced he would no longer portray Captain Kelvar Garth in the Axanar movie, stating that he wanted to hire a professional actor to fill the role, which would allow him to focus more on writing and producing.

In that award, the arbiter found in support of CBS and Paramount, the plaintiffs, thus resulting in Peters owing $292,372.54 in attorney fees and costs, plus interest (including a rate of $80.10 USD per day).