The competition consisted of a final, held on 13 and 14 February 2004, where "On Again... Off Again" performed by Julie and Ludwig eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a four-member jury and a public televote.

[2] Malta selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2004 participation.

The competition was held on 13 and 14 February 2004 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in the nation's capital city of Valletta, hosted by Andrea Cassar and Ray Calleja and broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well as on the website di-ve.com.

Among the selected competing artists was former Maltese Eurovision entrants Georgina (1991), Debbie Scerri (1997), and Fabrizio Faniello (2001).

Sixteen entries competed and the 50/50 combination of votes of a four-member jury panel and the results of public televoting determined the winner.

[10] The music video for the song was filmed earlier in March at several places of Malta, including the Dwejra Window in Gozo, the San Anton Gardens in Attard and the Manoel Theatre in Valletta.

[11][12] The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 took place at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey and consisted of a semi-final for the first time on 12 May and the final of 14 May, 2004.

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final.