The album was recorded and mixed using Pro Tools with producer Tim Weidner and orchestral arrangements by Larry Groupé conducting the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

In August 2000, the Yes line-up of singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, finished with their three-month Masterworks Tour across the United States.

[1] The tour was met with controversy when Khoroshev was involved in a backstage incident making repeated unwanted advances towards two female security guards.

[1] As the band discussed their next move in the latter half of 2000, one aspect covered was their future touring plans which included the idea of playing dates with an orchestra on stage.

[7] The band shared their idea with their fans when in January 2001, an online vote had been posted on their official website asking them if they wish to see their next tour include an orchestra.

[11][12] With Howe based in England, he arrived at the studio after the rest had settled and found they already had "industriously started writing music" in a similar fashion to when he flew over to work on Keys to Ascension (1996), which made him proud.

[14] When Groupé's name was suggested to the band, Anderson listened to his arrangements on the soundtrack to the drama film The Contender (2000) and enjoyed his musical style and use of harmonies.

[4] It was a success, and Groupé worked on the remainder of the album, "doing more new things, adding different harmonies, Moog counterpoints, putting overtures in front of pieces",[12] and conducted the final orchestral arrangements with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

[16] Anderson pitched ideas for the orchestral arrangements and places in the songs where he wished for them to be by playing a MIDI guitar, a process Howe found intriguing.

Both parties found that analogue became difficult to work in as the many changes in arrangements during the song development stage made tape editing increasingly impractical.

[18] He later revealed that the album was a problematic one to make, and claimed it was only completed through the "relentless efforts" from executive producer Jordan Berliant, Weidner, and himself.

[22] White agreed with an interviewer that some of the lyrics in "Spirit of Survival" were uncharacteristically dark and what he described as "pretty eerie", particularly in the wake of the September 11 attacks that occurred on the album's scheduled release day in North America.

[25] Magnification was released on 10 September 2001 by Eagle Records in the United Kingdom, under a license agreement between Beyond Music and the band's company, Yes LLC.

[24] It was originally scheduled for release in North America by Beyond and Yes LLC on 11 September 2001, however plans were affected following the terrorist attacks that occurred in New York City on the same day.

[27] Howard Cohen gave the album two stars out of five for The Knight Ridder Tribune and thought that despite the lack of a "killer tune" on it, he rates it as one of the band's more listenable releases.

[16] In the United States, a version on DVD-Audio with a 5.1 surround sound mix was released by Rhino Records on 30 July 2002, containing extended sleeve notes and bonus audio and video content.

[16] The two shows at Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam were recorded which was released as the 2002 DVD and 2009 CD Symphonic Live, the video directed by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis.

Former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman was invited to perform with the band for the recording of Symphonic Live, but he declined as he already had gigs booked in South America.