Lipa co-wrote the song with songwriter Caroline Ailin and its producers Andrew Wyatt and Mark Ronson, with the Picard Brothers also contributing to production.

Music critics overwhelmingly compared the sound of the song to Lipa's second studio album, Future Nostalgia (2020), which was viewed positively by some while others were disappointed.

It intersperses Lipa performing choreography while singing the song with clips of Margot Robbie, Issa Rae, and Emma Mackey dancing at a disco party in the film, featuring a cameo appearance from Barbie's director Greta Gerwig at the end.

In March or April 2022,[1] Mark Ronson received a text message from music supervisor George Drakoulias that simply stated: "Barbie?

[1][2] The film's director, Greta Gerwig, was inspired by the Bee Gees' work on the 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and requested that the former be disco, sending him a playlist of her favourite music for reference.

[5][8] Ronson believed "Tastes Like Barbie" sounded like Dua Lipa's second studio album, Future Nostalgia (2020),[6][7] and direct messaged her on Instagram to sing it for the soundtrack.

[9][10][11] Lipa, who was busy headlining the Future Nostalgia Tour and planned to distance herself from that disco sound on the follow-up album, accepted as she was a fan of Gerwig's work.

[3][4] She flew to New York and wrote the lyrics with Caroline Ailin in a studio over one week, the song now titled "Dance the Night";[4][6] Wyatt and Ronson are also co-writers.

[4][15] Ronson and Lipa abandoned an initial melancholy version of the song and made it more upbeat to suit the scene, which represented a flawless day in Barbie's life.

[31][39][40] Lipa employs a low yet disparately feminine voice, which adeptly infuses emotional depth into manufactured-sounding music according to Lucas Martins of Beats Per Minute.

[41] Writing for PopMatters, Peter Piatkowski believed its neo-disco pays homage to the classic disco sound of Chic, Ashford & Simpson, and Hal Davis, and the strings and bass resemble the work of Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor.

[a] Among them, Rebekah Gonzalez of iHeartRadio described the song as "another disco banger", and Tomás Mier of Rolling Stone observed the similarity to artists' previous material as a common trend on the soundtrack that made it work.

[45][51] On the other hand, Pitchfork's Cat Zhang believed it was a "throwaway product" that was only half saved due to the film usage, and The Independent's Adam White thought the song was a "flat imitation" that did not match the quality of Future Nostalgia.

The Guardian's Elle Hunt believed "Dance the Night" featured the same sophisticated orchestration and meticulous attention to detail that have made Ronson a highly sought after producer, while The Observer's Kit Buchan thought he succeeded but did not have "a requisite sprinkling of saccharine camp" for it.

[35][55] Martins praised the strings and thought the song fit Barbie perfectly, but he opined that it did not reach the same level as Ronson and Lipa's first collaboration, "Electricity" (2018).

[78] Elsewhere, the song charted at number one in Argentina,[79] Belarus,[80] Belgium,[81] Bulgaria,[82] the Commonwealth of Independent States,[83] Croatia,[84] the Czech Republic,[85] Estonia,[86] France,[87] Hungary,[88] Ireland,[89] Israel,[90] Kazakhstan,[91] Latvia,[92] Lithuania,[93] Luxembourg,[94] the Netherlands,[95] and San Marino.

Her outfit consisted of a pink and glittery cross-strap halter neck top with a keyhole cutout, alongside an ice-blue sparkling mini skirt with a thigh-high slit and butterfly embellishments.

At its conclusion, Gerwig gets out of a director's chair to praise Lipa's performance and question what happened to the disco ball as it is required for another music video.

[31][54] Harper's Bazaar Arabia's Pranita Garg thought that everything about it—ranging from the set design and costumes to the cameos—made her anticipate the film's premiere with great excitement.

[54] Writing for Cosmopolitan, Megan Wallace opined it was worth fawning over and the inclusion of items from La Vacanza would help viewers get in the mood for parties.

[116][117] Lipa sang one line from the song while opening the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on 4 February 2024, and it played in a video interlude during a costume change at her Glastonbury Festival 2024 set.