The song was partly inspired by a comment that George Harrison had made during a meeting of the Beatles' Apple record label.

The song-wide theme is one of freedom and escape, and its creation coincided with Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr having parted with manager Allen Klein in March 1973, leading to improved relations between McCartney and his fellow ex-Beatles.

The original demos for this and other tracks on Band on the Run were stolen shortly after Wings arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, to begin recording the album.

It was symbolic: "If we ever get out of here … All I need is a pint a day" … [In the Beatles] we'd started off as just kids really, who loved our music and wanted to earn a bob or two so we could get a guitar and get a nice car.

In a 1973 interview with Paul Gambaccini, McCartney stated that the lyric "if we ever get out of here" was inspired by a remark made by George Harrison during one of the Beatles' many business meetings.

[9][10] Music critic Robert Christgau characterised the lyrical content of the song as "about the oppression of rock musicians by cannabis-crazed bureaucrats".

[15] "Band on the Run", backed with "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five", was released in America in 1974 as the follow-up single to Paul McCartney and Wings' top-ten hit "Jet".

[1] The single was later released in Britain (instead backed with "Zoo Gang", the theme song to the television show of the same name), reaching number 3 on the British charts.

The difference was largely caused by the removal of the middle or the second part of the song, as well as the verse that starts with "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh …"[19] The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.

[21] Billboard also listed the song as Paul McCartney's sixth most successful chart hit of all time, excluding Beatles releases.

[22] "Band on the Run" has also been featured on numerous McCartney/Wings compilation albums, including Wings Greatest,[23] All the Best!,[24] and Wingspan: Hits and History.

[30] An independent film produced by Michael Coulson, while he was a college student in the mid-1970s, was later included in The McCartney Years video compilation as well as the 2010 re-issue of the album Band on the Run.

[34] In 2014, Billboard praised "Band on the Run" for having "three distinct parts that don't depend on a chorus yet still manage to feel anthemic".

[22] Cash Box said that the "excellent build to eventual power pitch, coupled with some fine music and vocals makes this another McCartney masterpiece".

[36] AllMusic critic Stewart Mason called the track "classic McCartney", lauding the song for "manag[ing] to be experimental in form yet so deliciously melodic that its structural oddities largely go unnoticed".

[8] Paul McCartney and Wings won the Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus for "Band on the Run" at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards.

In 2023 indie-Americana group Fantastic Cat along with guest performer Butch Walker recorded a cover for the song's 50th anniversary.