Set in the then-future year of 1997, Battle Beyond the Sun depicts a world divided into two great power blocs: the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Earth has become a springboard for the conquest of the solar system, with both factions racing to launch the first successful crewed mission to Mars. The film portrays an Earth that is technologically advanced yet politically fractured, where the thirst for discovery is inextricably linked to nationalist prestige.

The societal dynamics revolve around a competitive but ultimately cooperative spirit in the face of catastrophe. When a spacecraft from one bloc encounters a disaster near the Red Planet, the rival mission must choose between achieving their goal or performing a dangerous rescue. Earth functions as the command center for these operations, appearing as a unified logistical hub despite the underlying geopolitical friction. The American re-edit by Francis Ford Coppola notably introduced extraterrestrial monsters—a divergence from the more philosophical Soviet original—suggesting a universe that is hostile and unpredictable rather than merely a scientific frontier.

Technologically, the film predicted space habitation and the colonization of orbit by the late 20th century. While a crewed Mars mission did not occur by 1997, the film’s depiction of modular space stations and international tension in space mirrors the real-world history of the Mir space station and the early phases of the International Space Station. The film's vision of autonomous space probes and the risks of radiation in deep space align closely with the actual challenges faced by modern space agencies, though its timeline for interplanetary travel proved overly optimistic.