At the time of its release, band leader Dave Brock stated: "with Levitation we’ve come full circle back to the style of our debut album.

"[2] It is their first studio album after the departure of lead vocalist and lyricist Robert Calvert, and lyrics here tend to be cursory and the number of instrumentals is increased.

It is also the only studio Hawkwind album to feature ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker and first for ex-Gong keyboardist Tim Blake, who would later return to the band and play on 2010's Blood of the Earth.

Guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton's wife Marion, who was press officer for Ginger Baker's manager Roy Ward's company, suggested approaching the drummer to contribute as a session player.

"[3] The band asked the drummer to remain with them, and despite having previously declared to the press his intentions of joining the newly reformed Atomic Rooster,[4] he "found the atmosphere during the sessions so fantastic that I immediately decided to stay with Hawkwind.

[9] The band also undertook an additional eleven date tour of Britain between 12 and 22 December, with support from Leamington Spa NWOBHM group Chevy,[10] the Lewisham Odeon concert on the 18 being professionally recorded.

Before they set out on tour, Bronze recorded in-studio promotional videos of the group miming performances of "Levitation", "Who's Gonna Win the war" and "World of Tiers".

On 14 February 1981, the band appeared on the German television programme Musikladen performing "Motorway City" and "Who's Gonna Win the War".

Dome felt "Ginger Baker slot[s] in almost as it were second nature", highlights "Dust of Time" as "mystically inspired Eastern melodies and atmospherically desolate synthesisers which engulf the JG Ballardesque" and the album "intersperse[s] the serious stuff with more lighthearted, whimsical instrumentals.

The band had wanted "Motorway City" to be released as the album's single, but the record company preferred "Who's Gonna Win the War?"

[17] It is another song that had been performed on the band's previous UK Winter 1979 tour, a bootleg version was later released on the Complete '79 album.

"Dust of Time" was performed during the Levitation tour, and an edited instrumental version with an intro taken from the outro of "The 5th Second of Forever" was issued on the album Zones under the title "The Island".