It was released by JYP Entertainment on July 9, 2018, as the lead single from the group's reissue of their fifth extended play, Summer Nights.
On June 18, it was officially announced by JYP Entertainment that the group would make a comeback with a new single titled "Dance the Night Away".
[7] It was described as a "song that offers a fresh tune that suits the summer weather" and was meant to showcase the group's youthfulness.
[4][5][8] Tamar Herman from Billboard described the song as a "summery EDM and groovy pop track that bounces around over a beat of thumping bass, bright horns, and blaring synths.
[11] It also ranked seventh on the 2018 YouTube Rewind list in the category for the 10 Most Popular Music Videos in South Korea.
[21][22][23] "Dance the Night Away" surpassed 100 million streams in March 2019 and 2,500,000 downloads in September 2019, making it the group's first single to earn a Platinum certification in both streaming and downloads from the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) since certifications were introduced in April 2018.