"Mirage" was written by Ryan Tedder, Mishaal Tamer, Brendan Angelides, and Grant Boutin.

[3] In a statement, Tedder described the desire for the song:[1] Most people don’t know this about me, but my band and I are closet gamers.

Having toured extensively in the Middle East, I wanted to capture the spirit of that region and reflect the location of the game sonically as much as possible...this was a definite pinch myself moment.The song's lyrics describe the similar story of the Assassins of Assassin's Creed, with a self-determined theme carried through the verses.

Tamer's bridge is in Arabic and, according to the official video's translation, describes persevering when others falter.

The video was shot in Malta, close in time to the band's set at Isle of MTV, inside a tunnel where soldiers would march before going to battle.