The episode was written by returning series guest writer, Helen Raynor, directed by Andy Goddard and produced by Richard Stokes.

The narrative centres on the intersection of Toshiko's romance with Tommy Brockless (Anthony Lewis), a cryogenically frozen soldier from World War I, and a number of hazardous time slips from 1918.

In 1918, Torchwood agents Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire take Tommy from St Teilo's Military Hospital in Cardiff to be kept in cryogenic storage.

[2] Inspiration for the story came from a short fictional document written by James Goss for the in-universe Torchwood Institute website created by BBC Online for the first series.

The final title recalls an infamous order from Field Marshal Douglas Haig on 11 April 1918, in response to the German spring offensive, which included the phrase: "Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement".

[3] The scenes featuring Toshiko and Tommy on the Penarth Pier were recorded, in between heavy rainfall, on 9 May 2007 and marked the first significant location shoot for the second series.

Cardiff Royal Infirmary provided the interior locations for scenes set in the fictional St Teilo's military hospital which were filmed between 12 and 18 May.

Goddard noted that the time-shift "essentially happened off-screen" and that what the audience sees is "great big wind machines and camera lights".

[6] Stephen James Walker, a writer who publishes on the subject of Doctor Who and its spin-offs, noted that the pre-watershed edition of "To the Last Man" had fewer cuts than any other.

[7] Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy gave the episode a four star review, stating that it provided "another example of a resoundingly triumphant ending that conveys so much via [a] simple image".

He praised the characterisation of Toshiko—stating that both Mori and Raynor "deserve a great deal of credit for reaching such dramatic heights"—and also the "refreshingly non-mawkish glimpse at the brutality of war and humanity".

Berriman acknowledged the "sweet, surprisingly subdued, almost coy" tone as an indicator of the programme's flexibility, but added that he "[prefers] the show when it’s full-blooded and outrageous.

"[9] Charlie Jane Anders of io9 gave a critical review, feeling that Toshiko and Tommy had "no chemistry" and that the episode seemed to convey that "men die for women's wiles".

[10] Travis Fickett of IGN gave the episode 7.9 out of ten, enjoying the time overlaps, the relationship between Toshiko and Tommy and the appearance of previous Torchwood employees.

She felt the main strength of the episode was the use of a science fiction crisis "to frame a story about love and sacrifice, the horrors of war and the burdens of command".

[13] Den of Geek's Andrew Mickel also enjoyed the episode, contrary to his expectations, having not been impressed by either Torchwood's earlier stories nor Helen Raynor's Doctor Who scripts.

Mickel felt that Raynor "pulled off the characterisation that was so sorely missing from ["Sleeper"]" whilst also treating Tommy's wartime origin with subtlety.