Animation was recorded during a busy time for Anderson when he was collaborating with Vangelis and Mike Oldfield and exploring new age and electropop.

As with the previous album Song of Seven, several well-known musicians were involved in Animation, including Simon Phillips, David Sancious, Jack Bruce and Morris Pert.

The album was produced by producer Neil Kernon who had worked with acts such as Daryl Hall and John Oates and was released on vinyl but no CD version was published until 2006, when a limited edition CD re-release of the album with two bonus tracks was issued by Opio Media.

Unfortunately the CD was not made from the original masters but from a worn copy of the vinyl, which led to complaints from purchasers.

The song "All God's Children" was produced by producer Tony Visconti (who had worked with more mainstream British acts such as David Bowie and T. Rex) The album was promoted with a world tour on which Anderson performed songs from the album as well as several Yes classics, mostly in medley form.