It is a stall, but one that is recoverable (for the cobra)
The body is slammed into the air as an air brake, the first part of getting the nose up is a rapid stall to prevent the aircraft just climbing and flying up.
The aim was to maintain the altitude during this, so a rapid lift of the nose, a stall of the wings so it doesn't gain a lot of altitude and also I believe an engine set up which can still work taking in enough air to give plenty of thrust to hold the altitude.

Regaining level flight is apparently from the elevators, the nose-up airbrake is somewhat stable but once you're back on the elevators, you get more drag at the back (bottom) of the wing, and it flips the nose back down again.

So- way over the angle of attack, stall the wings so you don't gain altitude, plenty of thrust so it won't sink, plenty of drag and slowing down. Then on with the elevators, adding extra drag at the bottom (still stalled, the air isn't flowing over the wings) and it'll flip the nose back down and you recover.