Of the album's twelve songs, four were new compositions recorded specifically for it: "I'm a Legend Tonight," "Down on Your Knees," "Nowhere to Run" and "Partners in Crime."

1980's Unmasked had barely achieved gold certification in the United States, and the band toured exclusively outside the US for the first time in their career that year, aside from one show in New York which introduced Eric Carr as their new official drummer.

[4] Numerous outside songwriters and session musicians were employed for the writing and recording of the four new songs on Killers, as well as the subsequent album, Creatures of the Night.

[6] Despite being pictured on the album's cover art (from the photo session for Music from "The Elder"), lead guitarist and co-founder Ace Frehley did not participate at all in the production of Killers.

[4][5] His replacement for the Killers sessions was Bob Kulick, who had previously substituted for Frehley on a handful of studio tracks on 1977's Alive II; however, whereas Kulick had been asked to mimic Frehley's playing style when recording for Alive II, he was permitted to employ his own techniques for Killers.