[3] Vangelis was accused of plagiarising "Chariots of Fire" from a piece by fellow Greek composer Stavros Logaridis called "City of Violets".

[24] Many cover versions of "Chariots of Fire" have been recorded in all styles by all manner of artists, including the orchestral sounds of John Williams and the Boston Pops, the electric guitars of The Shadows, the soft piano of Richard Clayderman, the pan flute of Zamfir, and the jazz of The Bad Plus.

Vocal recordings of "Chariots of Fire" have been made by Melissa Manchester, Jane Olivor, Mireille Mathieu, Demis Roussos, and others, all with the lyrics from "Race to the End" provided by Jon Anderson.

[25][26][27] In light of its original use, the piece is often used for comedic effect in numerous slow-motion sequences and/or parodies of the sports genre in various films, television episodes, and commercials.

[31][32] The piece was also performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under the conductor of Sir Simon Rattle during the opening ceremony of the games, as part of a skit starring comedian Rowan Atkinson reprising his role as Mr. Bean, seen playing a repeated note on a synthesizer whilst using a cellphone, and later an umbrella to play the note while trying to grab a tissue to blow his nose, and then falling into a daydream parodying the opening "beach run" scene from the Chariots of Fire film itself.

The song plays over the opening credits of the hit 1982 debut episode of the ABC crime drama Matt Houston.

In the 2012 documentary The Falklands' Most Daring Raid, Aircraft Electronics Officer Hugh Prior stated that upon the successful completion of Operation Black Buck 1, he "played it at full blast" in the cockpit of his Avro Vulcan.