 The character of Khan required five costumes , more than any other guest star in the entire series . This meant that the staff working on costumes had less time to devote to any one costume . Montalbán 's athletic physique was such that when his measurements were passed to them , staff thought there had been a mistake . Costume designer William Ware Theiss found it challenging to produce the outfits in the time allotted , to make the materials seem suitably futuristic and to fit his own preferences in design . Two of Khan 's outfits re @-@ used previous costumes , while three were specifically created for Montalbán . The production built two new sets for the episode : the decompression chamber in sickbay , and the set on board Botany Bay . A <unk> from that set was later reused as an overhead unit in McCoy 's research lab , which appeared later in the series . 
