As with the previous album, After the Heat was created in collaboration with the influential krautrock producer Conny Plank.

The track "Tzima N'Arki" contains a reversed vocal track, part of which includes the chorus of Eno's song "King's Lead Hat" (from his album Before and After Science), itself an anagram of "Talking Heads", whose recordings Eno was producing during that period.

"Broken Head" makes prominent use of tape flanging on Eno's declaimed vocal.

Comparing the album to the musicians' previous collaboration Cluster & Eno (1977), Pitchfork wrote in their favourable retrospective review: "A few piano-centered instrumentals hint at the sound of the earlier record, but After The Heat exists in a fantastic sphere of its own.

"[3] Trouser Press called the album "an alluring — occasionally compelling — collection of instrumentals that deftly avoid the pitfalls of ambient music".