An explanation is presented for the recently reported striking differences in the kilovolt Xe L-shell x-ray emission from Xe cluster targets excited by comparable terawatt ultraviolet (248 nm) and infrared (800 nm) femtosecond laser pulses under nearly identical experimental conditions (Kondo K et al 1997 J. Phys. B.: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 30 2707-16). A classical analysis of these results, within the framework of the first Born approximation for electron-atom collisions producing inner-shell ionization, strongly suggests that both the times stronger Xe(L) emission under ultraviolet laser excitation and the observed differences in the x-ray spectra are caused primarily by the different ultraviolet and infrared pump laser wavelengths. The kinematics of photoionized electrons in the intense laser fields (-) and the Coulomb-driven expansion of the electron distribution photoionized from the atomic cluster both indicate that the strong pump-laser wavelength scaling in the production of kilovolt x-rays from Xe clusters results from the more localized and controlled electron-cluster interactions afforded by a shorter optical period.