On 1 January 1996, when the group returned from the holidays to their recording studio, Electric Palace, in London, they found that a water pipe had burst and had destroyed hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equipment.

"We Fall Apart" was written by Downes and Payne in March 1995 and was one of the first tracks recorded at Electric Palace Studios in London for inclusion on Arena, but was omitted because of its industrial feel.

"The Mariner's Dream" is a short instrumental track written by Payne in March 1994, while the group were working on Aria at Parkgate Studios in Battle, East Sussex.

When the group were working on the title track at Electric Palace Studios, Steve Howe proposed to send him a tape copy.

By the time the group received the tape back from Howe, they had already completed another song with Elliott Randall, which was put on the album instead of "Ginger".

As a part of series of remastered and expanded editions, Inside Out Music re-released Archiva as a combined two-disc set, featuring bonus tracks.

The volume one was expanded by the single edit of "Anytime" and an acoustic live performance of "Open Your Eyes", which was recorded on 21 July 2003 at the XFM Radio Studios in Washington.