It was announced on 27 November 2015 in support of their seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams, and marked a return to live performing at stadiums following the intimate shows from Ghost Stories Tour (2014), which saw the band playing in venues such as the Beacon Theatre and Royal Albert Hall.

[4] The band combined extensive use of laser light and pyrotechnic special effects with raw, acoustic segments between stages, complementing performances with a new version of the Xylobands from Mylo Xyloto Tour (2011–12).

[5] The concert run consisted of 122 shows in eight legs across five continents, starting at Argentina's Estadio Ciudad de La Plata on 31 March 2016 and finishing at the same venue on 15 November 2017.

Following the release of Coldplay's sixth album, Ghost Stories (2014), the band announced they would not be making a usual tour for it,[7] limiting themselves to one-off concerts at smaller venues around the world.

[13] Before starting the tour, Coldplay performed at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, which included appearances from Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson and the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles.

[22] Most of the tour included two supporting acts on each concert, with British singer Lianne La Havas opening all performances held during the first Latin American and European legs, marking the first stadium shows of her career.

[25] In select dates, local artists from their respective country were invited to serve as opening acts: Ximena Sariñana and Hana Ciliberti performed in the Mexico City shows,[26] while Radwimps played at the Tokyo Dome on 9 April 2016.

[28] The local acts invited for Hannover, Gothenburg and Cardiff were German singer Femme Schmidt, Danish group Mew and English band Embrace, respectively.

[30] After being asked about the experience, she commented it was "amazing" and "surreal to get to sit next to him on the piano and hear him perform so close to me" and thanked the singer for the opportunity, adding she learned a lot from him when they were on studio.

[30] Similar to Mylo Xyloto Tour (2011–12), the band combined performances including laser light and pyrotechnic visuals at the main stage with intimate sets at the B-stage and C-stage.

[33] Shows usually featured between 22 and 25 tracks, which sometimes incorporated new intros and outros: "Paradise" started regularly but ended in its Tiësto remix version, while "Fix You" was performed with an additional instrumental background from "Midnight".

[35] Fans who pre-ordered A Head Full of Dreams (2015) on Amazon were given early access to tickets for the United Kingdom shows on 26 November, while general sales for the entire leg happened over the ensuing week.

[46] Other records established that year include the largest single-day attendance at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium (62,068),[47] most tickets sold by an international musician in Taiwan (72,212),[48] and being the first band to play at Saint-Denis' Stade de France thrice on a single tour.

They grab for audience participation but collegially rather than greedily", praising how they created a "continuously satisfying pop show that has elements of U2 and Taylor Swift, Springsteen and Kylie, but somehow retains a sliver of modesty".

[54] Similarly, The Guardian's Kitty Empire rated their Croke Park performance with 4/5 stars and mentioned it felt "like the encore, the kind that sends you out into the night streets, hollering the chorus" even when the band were "just two songs in".