[5] Menken said that his score "is obviously pulled from the themes of the songs, almost exclusively, but it is much more live action in its textures and its tone" than the original film's.

[8] Menken said that "[t]he job really was to be following along with the camera as it soars through Agrabah, setting up this world for the audience", to which "[he, Pasek, and Paul] rewrote some of the lyrics to go with the visuals that Guy had in mind, introducing Jafar and basically setting the stage for the rest of the film", and said that "[i]t's a much bigger, much more ambitious number than it was [in the original film]".

[8] Pasek, Paul, and Menken also rewrote the song "Prince Ali",[10] in order to fit the Genie's actor Will Smith's personality.

Pasek felt that "it made a lot of sense for this really strong woman that so many girls have grown up loving to talk about reclaiming her own power".

[23][24] Ritchie said that the new songs are "marginally shifted" to reflect the changes between the time of the original film and the remake, though he said that "essentially the soundtrack’s the same, just somewhat embellished with a couple of new tunes in it".