If you want to do the same from the command line, AppleScript makes it straightforward to do from your shell in a single line:
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to get dark mode' # Get current mode
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to true' # Set dark mode
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to false' # Set light mode
