Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album, Rio (1982).

[6] The lyrics were inspired by Little Red Riding Hood,[5] and the repeating of the word "do" at the end of each verse takes its melody from the instrumentals in Gordon Lightfoot's song "If You Could Read My Mind".

Andy Taylor remembers: "He was a great organizer and arranger, we gave him far more ideas and music than the track actually needed, and he was important in the process of whittling them down to the essential elements."

"[T]his seems curiously lifeless even by their own standards", reviewer Dave Rimmer wrote, "The wolf of the title appears to be a character who hunts women.

"[13] AllMusic's Ned Raggett said the song "blended a tight, guitar-heavy groove with electronic production and a series of instant hooks", adding that it was one of Rio's "biggest smashes" that "open[ed] the door in America for the New Romantic/synth rock crossover".

[5] EMI spent $200,000 to send the group to Sri Lanka;[21] the band made a stopover there in April, en route to a scheduled Australian tour.

[5] Keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist Andy Taylor remained behind to finish the mixing of the Rio album while the rest of the band began filming the video; they flew straight to Sri Lanka after handing over the final masters to EMI.

[22][23] As it was described in the pop culture book The 1980s, the video was lush and cinematic, with shots of jungles, rivers, elephants, cafes and marketplaces evoking the atmosphere of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

[24] Andy Taylor, who contracted a stomach virus serious enough to require hospitalisation from accidentally drinking water in the lagoon during the shoot, describes the storyline as "Indiana Jones is horny and wants to get laid.

"[25] In the video, lead vocalist Simon Le Bon's head rises in slow motion out of the river as rain pours down, evoking a scene in Apocalypse Now (1979).

He then chases a tiger-like woman played by Bermuda model Sheila Ming,[26] from open markets in the city through obstacles in the jungle.

[21] Less than two months after the shoot of the video, the fledgling American cable television network MTV put "Hungry Like the Wolf" into heavy rotation, playing it four times a day.

[21] Les Garland, senior executive vice-president of MTV, said: "I remember our director of talent and artist relations came running in and said, 'You have got to see this video that's come in.'

At first, US radio were reluctant to play the song, but influential stations such as KROQ in Los Angeles championed the band, hosting an in-person artist album signing at a Licorice Pizza in Canoga Park, California, to build support for the act.

On the first day of New York-based WLIR's run as a modern-rock station, "Hungry Like the Wolf" aired in morning drive, with John DeBella as host.

It gained national popularity, however, only when the newly emerging MTV began playing the accompanying music video in heavy rotation; the exposure pushed "Hungry Like the Wolf" onto AOR playlists.