The episode was written and storyboarded by Ako Castuera and Jesse Moynihan, from a story by Patrick McHale, Kent Osborne, and Pendleton Ward.

"Sons of Mars" helped Cartoon Network mark double digit growth in all kid demos for the night, according to Nielsen ratings.

For instance, plants and animals live wildly in the structure, and a tiny Manticore is kept in a glass jar, apparently for Magic Man's amusement.

In the end, after "extensive meetings" with the show's writing staff, Moynihan decided to rewrite the episode so that it would serve as a sequel to Magic Man's story.

[6] A large portion of the episode's original draft featured Finn and Jake discovering a strange naturalistic temple inscribed with carvings of Abraham Lincoln.

These scenes were excised due to the time constraints of the episode, and creative director Nate Cash storyboarded a shorter scene—featuring Finn and Jake carrying a broken robot—to take the removed material's place.

"[9] Portions of Magic Man's house feature a number of cardboard boxes labelled "Dirt", which Ghostshrimp added because he thought they were "mysterious and intriguing".

"[11] "Sons of Mars" features the return of several characters, with perhaps the most obvious being Magic Man, voiced by Kenny, who had originally appeared in the first-season episode "Freak City".

[14] He called it "a story for long-time fans of Adventure Time" due to its reveal of several important characters like Lincoln and Grob Gob Glob Grod.

[14] Sava felt that the episode was "random" and "incredibly bizarre", but that it gave both a better look at Adventure Time's "big picture" as well as the series' "psychedelic panorama of absurdity".

[14] Sava specifically applauded the episode's merging of bizarre characters and mundane tasks, such as Grod drawing on an overhead projector, as well as the non sequitur ending featuring the tiny manticore.

[20] Colin O'Boyle of GeekSmash enjoyed the appearance of both Lincoln and the tiny manticore, writing, "That, ladies and gents, is one of the reasons I love Adventure Time".