[2] Released in May 2011, the album features four tracks taken from The Sensual World (1989) and seven from The Red Shoes (1993) which have been re-recorded while retaining most of the original instrumentation.

Director's Cut is available as a digital album, a standard CD in a case-bound book, a deluxe version ("Collector's Edition"), consisting of a box set including Director's Cut, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes (re-mastered from digital to analogue), and two-disc vinyl.

Director's Cut versions of "Lily" and "Top of the City" were performed live for the first time in Before the Dawn 2014 series of concerts.

In November 2018, Bush released box sets of remasters of her studio albums, including Directors Cut.

The only single to be released from the album was "Deeper Understanding", originally the sixth track of The Sensual World.

[9] The song features a newly recorded main vocal by Bush, and the voice of her son Bertie on the chorus.

[10] Critical reception for the album was mostly positive, with reviewers acknowledging the confusion surrounding the release of this revisitation of old songs.

[21] In a 4-star review, Fiona Shephard of The Scotsman wrote "Ever the perfectionist, Kate Bush has revisited earlier songs, the first-time recordings of which didn't reflect her original vision.

"[22] Thom Jurek of AllMusic stated that he found the release "deeply engaging and satisfying" and that since Bush has "her own world-class recording studio" where "she's kept up with technology" that it shows positively in the details added to the remade songs.