Some of the music on these CDs was originally released, with alternate mixes, on the soundtracks to his virtual reality games, Tres Lunas and Maestro.

The first nine tracks are dubbed "Light" and feature brighter and quiet pieces; the second half of the album is the "Shade" portion and brings in a much darker feel.

Oldfield repaid the favour by playing guitar on "Morgentau", a track from the Tag und Nacht album for Deylen's band Schiller.

The track "Romance" is a Techno version of a fragment of the 19th century classical guitar piece by the same name.

[3] Pieces from Light and Shade have been used in media, such as the use of "Resolution" and "Slipstream" in the BBC's technology series Click.