Interscope Records intended "Dance in the Dark" to be the third single from The Fame Monster, but Gaga insisted on "Alejandro", which was released in April 2010.

Some months later, Universal Music France issued "Dance in the Dark" to French radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country.

In the first leg of the tour, Gaga appeared behind a scrim-lit screen, and in the revamped shows, she performed it on a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene.

Other events where she performed the song included the 2010 BRIT Awards—dedicated to Gaga's close friend, Alexander McQueen, who had committed suicide a few days earlier—and at her Las Vegas residency, Enigma.

[5][6] According to MTV News, Interscope Records initially planned "Dance in the Dark" as the EP's third single, but Gaga preferred "Alejandro", which was released on April 20, 2010.

[7] Universal Music France issued "Dance in the Dark" on August 25, 2010, to French radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country.

[11][12] Author Robin James in the book Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism recognized synth-pop elements in the song, which was influenced by Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" (1987).

[19] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine noted influences from 1980s music in "Dance in the Dark", writing, "The song isn't a cautionary tale per se, but a call to arms to misfits everywhere.

[20] The interlude references famous dead people: Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Sylvia Plath, JonBenét Ramsey, Liberace, Jesus, Stanley Kubrick, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Gaga explained that the lines conveyed how people rely on external motivations to cope with internal anxiety: "She doesn't feel free without the moon".

"[16] Nick Levine from Digital Spy found that the song "makes you want to dance with your top off in a grotty German bondage basement".

[32] The song's chorus—called "one of Gaga's most lustrous" by Rolling Stone[30] and "deliciously outrageous, sky-scraping" by Vulture—was praised for "pierc[ing] through the mesh of synths like a laser".

[33][34] Glamour argued that its topic about body insecurities and sound (describing it as "one of Gaga's brightest efforts: booming and industrial yet incredibly haunting") made it her most emotionally impactful song to date.

During the original 2009 leg of the tour, the show began as Gaga appeared behind a giant, green laser-lit video screen featuring scrim lights, in a futuristic silver jeweled jumpsuit with bulbs on it.

[45][46][47][48] Wearing matching eye makeup and a mask, she sang "Dance in the Dark" while surrounded by dancers in white balaclavas and jumpsuits.

Gaga performed the song in a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene, with flickering neon signs displaying the words "ugly", "sexy" and "liquor", fire escape stairwells and a broken yellow taxi.

[51] For Katrin Horn, a postdoctoral fellow in American studies, the "Dance in the Dark" performance helped highlight a recurring theme in Gaga's work from the tour's beginning—"pop culture's obsession with both decay and beauty, or more precisely the decay of beauty"—as the song is dedicated to famous dead people who had struggled with their reputation when they were alive.

[52] Gaga sang "Telephone", the second single from The Fame Monster, and "Dance in the Dark" at the Brit Awards on February 16, 2010, at Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

Inspired by the recent death of her friend, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, she changed the concept of her performance at the last minute to pay tribute to him.

"[54] Her performance of "Dance in the Dark", described as more restrained compared to her previous ones by The Wall Street Journal,[53] began as she got up from her piano while the disco groove of the song was heard.