Written by frontman Noel Gallagher, it was released on 9 October 2017 as the first single from the band's third studio album Who Built the Moon?

How it came about was, one of the first sessions we did, the hook line, the tin whistle thing that is like one of the most catchiest things in the world, is a sample from a track by a brilliantly titled band from the 60s called The Ice Cream, and a track called 'Chewing Gum Kid'(1968), don't try and Google it, it's beyond obscure, you'll never find it... "[3] The single's B-side is a live acoustic version of "Dead in the Water", recorded at RTÉ 2FM Studios in Dublin, Ireland in between takes of then-current single "The Dying of the Light".

Gallagher recounted; "I had just written ["Dead in the Water"] a couple nights before and they were messing about, moving microphones around and it sounded so good in my headphones that I just started to sing that song.

[5] Gallagher did reveal that he attempted a studio recording of the song with an orchestra for the 2021 compilation Back the Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011–2021), but ultimately scrapped the idea.

[5] The official video for "Holy Mountain", directed by Julian House and using the original cameras from Top of the Pops in the 1970s, was released on the band's Vevo account on 11 October 2017.