The Crazy World of Arthur Brown had been performing the song "Fire" in their live act to highly favorable audience response.

As the cap was not insulated, the heat from the burning fuel quickly conducted through the fixing bolt to the top of Brown's head, causing him considerable pain.

[7] After the Crazy World of Arthur Brown completed recording sessions for the album, the band embarked on their first American tour, supporting the Doors, Frank Zappa and MC5.

[5] Brown defended the overdubs, saying that they added to the album's overall presentation, replacing visuals and costume changes he would have employed in live performance to achieve dramatic effect.

The song's lyrics are sung from the perspective of a self-proclaimed "god of Hellfire," destroying, with tremendous glee, everything that his victims have built up over their lives.

The singer's opening proclamation "I am the God of Hellfire" became a lasting catchphrase; the audio effect on the intro is a mixture of artificial reverb and "recording in the toilet, which gave a chamber-type sound".

Credit for the composition of "Fire" on the original vinyl single was to Arthur Brown and Vincent Crane only; however, Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker successfully sued for co-credit and royalties based on melodic similarities to their song "Baby, You're a Long Way Behind".

The perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019 used "Fire", after which Brown expressed "horror and sadness" at the use of the song and cancelled his "instore" performance the day after.