The original idea for the song came to Matkosky while watching a news report on a serial killer, which inspired gruesome lyrics that he and Sembello expanded upon after finding a 1980 horror film with the same name.

When Flashdance director Adrian Lyne grew attached to the demo of the song used during filming, his music supervisor Phil Ramone requested lyrics more appropriate for their story of a dancer and worked with Sembello to produce a new version for the soundtrack.

He included "Maniac" on his debut album but made it clear that he would not be putting out a similar song just to capitalize on its success and that he wanted people to forget his hit record and focus on his latest material.

Cover versions of the song cropped up in the UK, however, and one recording of a DJ rapping over a remix spent 10 weeks at number 1 in Ireland in 2000 and became the country's fifth biggest-selling single of all time.

",[7] a number 36 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971[8] that recreated the two-tone siren used on ambulances in the United Kingdom at that time,[6] and Sembello came up with the idea of using "Chopsticks" to introduce the instrumental portion of the song.

'"[14] Lyne had grown accustomed to using the music by the end of filming and wanted it in the final cut,[15] so Ramone asked for lyrics to fit the movie[16] and had Sembello re-record the song.

[19] The May 7 issue of Cash Box, however, reported on the surprise success of the film and Paramount's plan to have Lyne take parts of scenes from it to create music videos to be shown on the cable channel MTV as well as on television programs and at other venues featuring such clips.

[18] "Maniac" was listed on the reports that MTV provided to Billboard that indicated what videos were in rotation on the cable network and made its first appearance there in the May 21 issue, which indicated that it had been added to their playlist as of May 11.

[34] "Maniac" was selected as the best song on the soundtrack album by the editors of Digital Audio's Guide to Compact Discs, who described how "it opens with a fast disco drum machine beat, augmented by frantic synthesizers and a pulsating bass line.

Irish rave act 4 Rhythm made a recording of "Maniac" in 1994 that replaced the verses with a more contemporary rap, but the publishers of the original, Warner Chappell Music, "weren't happy with the change of lyrics and blocked the release".

[76] They did allow a 4 Rhythm version in which the original verses were rapped,[76] and that recording reached number 28 in 1995, the same peak position that Sembello achieved, on the Irish Singles Chart.