It was co-written by Bowie, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis in September 1976.

Originally a track on Bowie's 1977 album Low, a reworked version of the song was a regular on the Isolar II Tour.

Bowie performed "Breaking Glass" on his Isolar II, Serious Moonlight, Outside, Heathen, and A Reality tours.

The fractured lyrics are, like several songs written during Bowie's stay in Berlin, introspective of his dark, drug-filled period living in America in 1975–1976.

The lines "Don't look at the carpet; I drew something awful on it" refer to Bowie's practice of drawing the Tree of Life on the floor during that period, as he was interested in Aleister Crowley and Qabalah at the time.