With the soundtrack, Carpenter wanted to avoid the usual clichés finding that “other scores for American movies about Chinese characters are basically rinky tink, chop suey music.

Carpenter instead opted for his trademark synthesizer score mixed with rock ‘n’ roll music with a slight mystical Chinese overtone.

[3] A soundtrack album, produced by Carpenter, was released in 1986 on Enigma Records and featured nine tracks for a total of just over 45 minutes.

It included two versions of Carpenter and his band, The Coupe De Villes (consisting of himself, Nick Castle, and Tommy Lee Wallace), performing the "Big Trouble in Little China" theme song, three tracks from Alan Howarth's previously unreleased score for Backstabbed (also known as Mørkeleg), and a track from Escape from New York, entitled, "Atlanta Bank Robbery".

Both versions have an error on Pork Chop Express on the intro, it plays slightly fast, then slows down to its normal speed.