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Harry, 26, who is third in line to the throne, served with the British army in Afghanistan for 10 weeks but was withdrawn in 2008 after media reported the deployment, triggering security fears.
The 90-minute programme includes fictionalised scenes of an actor playing Harry being held by insurgents and an unloaded gun being pointed in his face before a captor pulls the trigger.
He is also forced to appear in Taliban and Al-Qaeda propaganda.
Defence sources told AFP that officials were "very cross about it".
"If Channel 4 goes ahead, as looks likely, they will fail in their duty to respect the sacrifices that our armed forces and their families make on behalf of the whole country," sources added.
"They will no doubt say this is a serious journalistic exercise but no responsible broadcaster would treat such a serious subject as the morale of our brave service personnel with such casual disregard."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Stirrup had written to Burns but said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the letter's contents.
Channel 4 added that it had replied to Stirrup's letter, addressing his "concerns."
"The film is rooted in expert testimony and is a serious journalistic examination of a current issue. It treats the subject matter sensitively," a spokeswoman said.
"It is a legitimate subject for documentary to explore the risks that Prince Harry faces as a high value target, and to seek to understand the full nature of the dangers to a royal in the modern theatre of war as well as the political implications of a high profile kidnap."
Harry, known as Lieutenant Wales in the military, is currently training to become a helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps, flying an Apache attack chopper.
This is not the first time Channel 4 programmes have attracted controversy.
It screened reality television show "Big Brother", which sparked an international row over the racist bullying of Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty in its 2007 celebrity edition, but which has since been axed.
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The 90-minute programme includes fictionalised scenes of an actor playing Harry being held by insurgents and an unloaded gun being pointed in his face before a captor pulls the trigger.
He is also forced to appear in Taliban and Al-Qaeda propaganda.
Defence sources told AFP that officials were "very cross about it".
"If Channel 4 goes ahead, as looks likely, they will fail in their duty to respect the sacrifices that our armed forces and their families make on behalf of the whole country," sources added.
"They will no doubt say this is a serious journalistic exercise but no responsible broadcaster would treat such a serious subject as the morale of our brave service personnel with such casual disregard."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Stirrup had written to Burns but said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the letter's contents.
Channel 4 added that it had replied to Stirrup's letter, addressing his "concerns."
"The film is rooted in expert testimony and is a serious journalistic examination of a current issue. It treats the subject matter sensitively," a spokeswoman said.
"It is a legitimate subject for documentary to explore the risks that Prince Harry faces as a high value target, and to seek to understand the full nature of the dangers to a royal in the modern theatre of war as well as the political implications of a high profile kidnap."
Harry, known as Lieutenant Wales in the military, is currently training to become a helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps, flying an Apache attack chopper.
This is not the first time Channel 4 programmes have attracted controversy.
It screened reality television show "Big Brother", which sparked an international row over the racist bullying of Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty in its 2007 celebrity edition, but which has since been axed.
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