Members Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann, along with usual collaborators Andy Hughes, Nick Burton, and Simon Phillips, wrote and produced the album for a planned 1999 release.

[1] Featured on the album are Robert Fripp, John Roome, and Fil Le Gonidec, who had previously only worked with the Orb in live performances.

[2] Singers Nina Walsh and Aki Omori appeared on two tracks each on Cydonia, providing vocals and co-writing lyrics with Paterson, who felt that this new direction for the Orb was more similar to the experimental work of Orbus Terrarum, rather than the poppish techno of Orblivion.

[4] As Island Records was trapped in major-label-restructuring limbo because of its recent merger between the MCA and PolyGram families that created Universal Music Group, Cydonia was not released until 2001.

Paterson believed that "Centuries", another vocal piece from Cydonia, was also worth releasing as a single, but Island chose to wait and see how successful the album was before making a final decision.