The song was written by band members Andy McMaster and Nick Garvey, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

[1] In a retrospective review of 1, Mark Deming of AllMusic praised "Dancing the Night Away" as "superb" and "an excellent fusion of pop melody with big guitar firepower".

Todd Rundgren, who produced the majority of Next Position Please, originally advised Epic to release "I Can't Take It" as the album's lead single.

[5] In a review of Next Position Please, Evelyn Erskine of The Ottawa Citizen described "Dancing the Night Away" as "spunky and fun".

[6] Jim Bohen of the Daily Record was negative of the band's version, describing it as "regrettably ponderous and shrill".