[1] Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper,[2][3] its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare and municipal administration.

[3][7] The Times Group was faced with large scale poaching including those of experienced journalists as well as sales and marketing executives.

[3] The company had adopted a similar tactic in 1989 when it launched The Independent to compete with the Indian Post, a newspaper founded by Vijaypat Singhania.

[1] The Mumbai Mirror was launched on 25 May 2005 with a grand ceremony at the Gateway of India, which saw the attendance of the Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan and the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

[3] The competition was intense and all the leading newspapers were in losses but through it, The Times of India managed to retain its position as the paper with the highest circulation.

[3] Mumbai Mirror had gained the highest tabloid readership in the city,[4] and it cannibalised the advertisement revenue of The Times Group.

The net revenue from advertisements was decreasing in the last couple of years due to economic slowdown and with the pandemic, the circulation of both the newspapers in Mumbai took a hard drop.

[6] In 2020, the Mumbai Mirror was transferred to a subsidiary of The Times Group called the Metropolitan Media Company Ltd. (MMCL).

The transfer became effective on 1 April and gave rise to speculations that The Times Group was either planning to sell off the city focused Mirror newspapers or shutting them down.

[3] On 5 December 2020, The Times Group released a statement that the economic crisis induced by the pandemic had made the newspaper unviable.

The laid off staff were not provided any severance packages and asked to serve their notice period with one month's basic pay.

[1] It had a popular column called Ask the Sexpert which received readers questions related to sexual activity and gave humorous informative answers in return.

[14] D'Souza later received the Red Ink Award for Lifetime Achievement for his photography in midst of attacks and for his earlier work with Agence France-Presse (AFP) during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

[4][16] It is described to have reported news from a citizens point of view, questioning unresponsive civic authorities and featuring local heroes.

[16] The newspaper has maintained an independent focus on national news compared to its broadsheet parent and reported critical stories on the central and the state governments throughout its history.