The album features many of the artists on the 4AD roster at the time, including Cocteau Twins, Colourbox, and Dead Can Dance.

Howard Devoto of Magazine sang "Holocaust", one of two covers of songs from Big Star's 1978 album Third/Sister Lovers; the other Big Star cover, album opener "Kangaroo", was released as a single.

Two key songs were performed by Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, including a cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren", which reached #66 on the UK Charts when released as This Mortal Coil's debut single a year before the album.

A remastered and repackaged CD edition of It'll End in Tears was issued with the complete This Mortal Coil recordings in a self-titled box set, released in late November 2011.

[7] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked It'll End in Tears at number eight on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums".