[5] It is certified nine-times platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and is one of the world's best-selling albums, having sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

Brothers in Arms was recorded from November 1984 to February 1985 at AIR Studios on the island of Montserrat, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean.

Lindes left the band early on in the sessions, and was replaced in December 1984 by Jack Sonni, a New York-based guitarist and longstanding friend of Knopfler.

[10] Knopfler and Dorfsman utilised the limited space to best effect, placing the drum kit in the far left corner, facing the control room, miked with Sennheiser MD 421s on the toms, an Electro-Voice RE20 and AKG D12 on the kick drum, a Shure SM57 and AKG C451 with a 20 dB pad on the snare, 451s for overheads and the hi-hat, and Neumann U87s set back a little to capture "some kind of ambience".

[10] According to Williams himself, he had recorded all his drum parts to a click track, which he felt hindered his ability to channel the rhythmic feel he wanted.

[16] A defective batch of recording tape at AIR Studios resulted in the loss of part or all of three album tracks, leading to follow-up sessions being recorded at the Power Station in New York during early 1985[11] (including the addition of a Jack Sonni guitar synthesizer part to "The Man's Too Strong")[citation needed].

During this time, overdubs were recorded with further New York musicians including Michael and Randy Brecker, Mike Mainieri (who had previously contributed vibraphone to Love Over Gold) and percussionist Jimmy Maelen, plus trumpeter Dave Plews and Average White Band saxophonist Malcolm Duncan.

Saturday Night Live house band bassist Neil Jason was brought in for a week's work which included takes on "So Far Away", "Walk of Life", "Ride Across the River", "Your Latest Trick" and "The Man's Too Strong", although the only fully confirmed released results from the Jason sessions were the slap-style funk bassline on "One World" and "slides on my fretless—almost like a Syndrum effect" on the intro to the extended version of "Money for Nothing".

[11][17] Although Andy Kanavan was briefly recruited as Dire Straits' new drummer, Terry Williams ended up rejoining the band for the promotional concert world tour, which lasted until April 1986.

[19] It is one of only two Dire Straits songs on a studio album not to be solely credited to Knopfler (the other being "The Carousel Waltz", which opens Making Movies), with guest vocalist Sting given a co-writing credit due to the melody of the repeated "I want my MTV" (sung by Sting) at the start echoing the melody of the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me".

"Ride Across the River" uses immersive Latin American imagery, accompanied by synthesized pan flute, mariachi trumpet, a reggae-influenced drum part and eerie background noises.

[21] In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the war, Knopfler recorded a new version of the song at Abbey Road Studios to raise funds for British veterans who he said "are still suffering from the effects of that conflict".

[28] A 20th anniversary edition was issued on Super Audio CD on 26 July 2005 (becoming the 3000th title for the SACD format), featuring a 5.1 surround sound remix done by Chuck Ainlay at British Grove Studios.

It was mastered by Bob Ludwig, Bernie Grundman and Chris Bellman from the original analogue and digital tapes, and was also included on The Studio Albums 1978–1991 the previous year.

The release was a double-LP, 45 rpm, 180 gram edition, with the complete version of the album, for only the second time (the first being issued by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in 2015).

In a scathing review for NME, Mat Snow criticised Knopfler's "mawkish self-pity, his lugubriously mannered appropriation of rockin' Americana, his thumpingly crass attempts at wit".

He also accused the album of the "tritest would-be melodies in history, the last word in tranquilising chord changes, the most cloying lonesome playing and ultimate in transparently fake troubador sentiment ever to ooze out of a million-dollar recording studio".

[45] Eleanor Levy of Record Mirror dismissed the "West Coast guitars reeking of mega bucks and sell out stadium concerts throughout the globe.

"[44] Melody Maker's Barry McIlheney observed that Knopfler had recently explored different creative directions with his work on movie soundtracks and on Bob Dylan's Infidels, and bemoaned that "this admirable spirit of adventure fails to materialise...

He concluded, "the old rockschool restraints and the undeniably attractive smell of the winning formula seem to block out any such experimental work and what you end up with is something very like the same old story".

Writing for Spin magazine, E. Brooks praised Knopfler's guitar work and noted that "when the intensity of his words approaches that of his ravishing stratocaster licks, the song soars.

Brooks singled out the "haunting ballad" "Your Latest Trick", the "acerbic satire of vid-rock culture" in "Money for Nothing" and the "outstanding craftsmanship in the words and music" of the title track, which was "not a new message, but at least something other than sex, cars, or drugs is being talked about here.

"[47] Debby Bull gave the album a mixed review for Rolling Stone magazine, praising the "carefully crafted" effort, writing, "The record is beautifully produced, with Mark Knopfler's terrific guitar work catching the best light".

Despite the production values and notable contributions from guest artists like drummer Omar Hakim and the Brecker Brothers, Bull concluded that "the music lacks the ache that made Knopfler's recent soundtracks for Comfort and Joy and Cal so powerful.

Reviewing the remastered Dire Straits albums in 1996, Rob Beattie of Q awarded Brothers in Arms five stars out of five and wrote that "repeated listening reveals it as a singularly melancholic collection – see the guitar slashing of 'The Man's Too Strong' and the title track, where joy is as sharp as sorrow".

[41] In a 2007 review for BBC Music, Chris Jones called Brothers in Arms "a phenomenon on every level... a suite of Knopfler's very fine brand of JJ Cale-lite".

British music journalist Robert Sandall wrote: Looked at now with 20/20 vision of hindsight, the image on the sleeve of Brothers in Arms seems uncannily prophetic: that National steel guitar heading up into the clouds—a shiny 6 stringed rocket devoid of any obvious means of propulsion—describes, better than any words can, what happened to Dire Straits after the release of their 5th studio album.