diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index e7249956936..79fab3932cd 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -105,13 +105,14 @@ if profile:
 opts = Variables(customs, ARGUMENTS)
 
 # Target build options
-opts.Add("arch", "Platform-dependent architecture (arm/arm64/x86/x64/mips/...)", "")
-opts.Add(EnumVariable("bits", "Target platform bits", "default", ("default", "32", "64")))
 opts.Add("p", "Platform (alias for 'platform')", "")
 opts.Add("platform", "Target platform (%s)" % ("|".join(platform_list),), "")
-opts.Add(EnumVariable("target", "Compilation target", "debug", ("debug", "release_debug", "release")))
-opts.Add(EnumVariable("optimize", "Optimization type", "speed", ("speed", "size")))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("tools", "Build the tools (a.k.a. the Godot editor)", True))
+opts.Add(EnumVariable("target", "Compilation target", "debug", ("debug", "release_debug", "release")))
+opts.Add("arch", "Platform-dependent architecture (arm/arm64/x86/x64/mips/...)", "")
+opts.Add(EnumVariable("bits", "Target platform bits", "default", ("default", "32", "64")))
+opts.Add(EnumVariable("optimize", "Optimization type", "speed", ("speed", "size")))
+opts.Add(BoolVariable("production", "Set defaults to build Godot for use in production", False))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("use_lto", "Use link-time optimization", False))
 
 # Components
@@ -122,11 +123,11 @@ opts.Add(BoolVariable("xaudio2", "Enable the XAudio2 audio driver", False))
 opts.Add("custom_modules", "A list of comma-separated directory paths containing custom modules to build.", "")
 
 # Advanced options
-opts.Add(BoolVariable("verbose", "Enable verbose output for the compilation", False))
+opts.Add(BoolVariable("dev", "If yes, alias for verbose=yes warnings=extra werror=yes", False))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("progress", "Show a progress indicator during compilation", True))
+opts.Add(BoolVariable("verbose", "Enable verbose output for the compilation", False))
 opts.Add(EnumVariable("warnings", "Level of compilation warnings", "all", ("extra", "all", "moderate", "no")))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("werror", "Treat compiler warnings as errors", False))
-opts.Add(BoolVariable("dev", "If yes, alias for verbose=yes warnings=extra werror=yes", False))
 opts.Add("extra_suffix", "Custom extra suffix added to the base filename of all generated binary files", "")
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("vsproj", "Generate a Visual Studio solution", False))
 opts.Add(
@@ -313,10 +314,32 @@ if selected_platform in platform_list:
         env.Tool("compilation_db")
         env.Alias("compiledb", env.CompilationDatabase())
 
+    # 'dev' and 'production' are aliases to set default options if they haven't been set
+    # manually by the user. We use `ARGUMENTS.get()` to check if they were manually set.
     if env["dev"]:
-        env["verbose"] = True
-        env["warnings"] = "extra"
-        env["werror"] = True
+        env["verbose"] = ARGUMENTS.get("verbose", True)
+        env["warnings"] = ARGUMENTS.get("warnings", "extra")
+        env["werror"] = ARGUMENTS.get("werror", True)
+    if env["production"]:
+        env["use_static_cpp"] = ARGUMENTS.get("use_static_cpp", True)
+        env["use_lto"] = ARGUMENTS.get("use_lto", True)
+        env["debug_symbols"] = ARGUMENTS.get("debug_symbols", False)
+        if not env["tools"] and env["target"] == "debug":
+            print(
+                "WARNING: Requested `production` build with `tools=no target=debug`, "
+                "this will give you a full debug template (use `target=release_debug` "
+                "for an optimized template with debug features)."
+            )
+        if env.msvc:
+            print(
+                "WARNING: For `production` Windows builds, you should use MinGW with GCC "
+                "or Clang instead of Visual Studio, as they can better optimize the "
+                "GDScript VM in a very significant way. MSVC LTO also doesn't work "
+                "reliably for our use case."
+                "If you want to use MSVC nevertheless for production builds, set "
+                "`debug_symbols=no use_lto=no` instead of the `production=yes` option."
+            )
+            Exit(255)
 
     env.extra_suffix = ""
 
diff --git a/platform/osx/detect.py b/platform/osx/detect.py
index b9f5c6b89e1..a1c20b834a0 100644
--- a/platform/osx/detect.py
+++ b/platform/osx/detect.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def get_opts():
         ("osxcross_sdk", "OSXCross SDK version", "darwin14"),
         ("MACOS_SDK_PATH", "Path to the macOS SDK", ""),
         EnumVariable("macports_clang", "Build using Clang from MacPorts", "no", ("no", "5.0", "devel")),
-        EnumVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", "yes", ("yes", "no")),
+        BoolVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", True),
         BoolVariable("separate_debug_symbols", "Create a separate file containing debugging symbols", False),
         BoolVariable("use_ubsan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler undefined behavior sanitizer (UBSAN)", False),
         BoolVariable("use_asan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler address sanitizer (ASAN))", False),
diff --git a/platform/server/detect.py b/platform/server/detect.py
index 60b7e55f417..bf998013699 100644
--- a/platform/server/detect.py
+++ b/platform/server/detect.py
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ def get_opts():
 
     return [
         BoolVariable("use_llvm", "Use the LLVM compiler", False),
-        BoolVariable("use_static_cpp", "Link libgcc and libstdc++ statically for better portability", False),
+        BoolVariable("use_static_cpp", "Link libgcc and libstdc++ statically for better portability", True),
         BoolVariable("use_ubsan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler undefined behavior sanitizer (UBSAN)", False),
         BoolVariable("use_asan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler address sanitizer (ASAN))", False),
         BoolVariable("use_lsan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler leak sanitizer (LSAN))", False),
         BoolVariable("use_tsan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler thread sanitizer (TSAN))", False),
-        EnumVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", "yes", ("yes", "no")),
+        BoolVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", True),
         BoolVariable("separate_debug_symbols", "Create a separate file containing debugging symbols", False),
         BoolVariable("execinfo", "Use libexecinfo on systems where glibc is not available", False),
     ]
diff --git a/platform/windows/detect.py b/platform/windows/detect.py
index c6a86c82b89..265f7178600 100644
--- a/platform/windows/detect.py
+++ b/platform/windows/detect.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def get_opts():
         # XP support dropped after EOL due to missing API for IPv6 and other issues
         # Vista support dropped after EOL due to GH-10243
         ("target_win_version", "Targeted Windows version, >= 0x0601 (Windows 7)", "0x0601"),
-        EnumVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", "yes", ("yes", "no")),
+        BoolVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", True),
         BoolVariable("separate_debug_symbols", "Create a separate file containing debugging symbols", False),
         ("msvc_version", "MSVC version to use. Ignored if VCINSTALLDIR is set in shell env.", None),
         BoolVariable("use_mingw", "Use the Mingw compiler, even if MSVC is installed.", False),
diff --git a/platform/x11/detect.py b/platform/x11/detect.py
index 5efa803a3c6..e670791d2fd 100644
--- a/platform/x11/detect.py
+++ b/platform/x11/detect.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def get_opts():
         BoolVariable("use_tsan", "Use LLVM/GCC compiler thread sanitizer (TSAN))", False),
         BoolVariable("pulseaudio", "Detect and use PulseAudio", True),
         BoolVariable("udev", "Use udev for gamepad connection callbacks", True),
-        EnumVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", "yes", ("yes", "no")),
+        BoolVariable("debug_symbols", "Add debugging symbols to release/release_debug builds", True),
         BoolVariable("separate_debug_symbols", "Create a separate file containing debugging symbols", False),
         BoolVariable("touch", "Enable touch events", True),
         BoolVariable("execinfo", "Use libexecinfo on systems where glibc is not available", False),