Recording for the album began in November 2003 in the El Cortijo Studio in Spain,[2] being produced by Jacob Hellner and Rammstein.

[3] A statement from the band's management regarding the upcoming collection reads as follows: After the production period of the album, there were many songs which did not find a place on 'Reise, Reise' due to dramaturgical reason but are now completed.

The song was "Rosenrot", and when we had to realize that the band changed their minds and it did not even make it on to the album, we were speechless.

Twelve minutes into its flight, the Boeing 747 suffered an explosive decompression due to failure of its rear pressure bulkhead, caused by a faulty repair 7 years earlier.

The pilots fought to keep the aircraft aloft for nearly 32 minutes, but eventually became trapped in the towering mountain ranges surrounding Mount Fuji and crashed, killing 520 out of the 524 passengers and crew on board.

The band views it as a satirical commentary on "Americanization", and it features mentions of Coca-Cola, Mickey Mouse, and Santa Claus.

The song "Mein Teil" is about Armin Meiwes, a man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim whom he had found via the Internet.

[8] According to Rammstein's bassist Oliver Riedel, the song came about after "one of our members brought a newspaper to rehearsal and it had a story about the cannibal guy in it.

[9] "Mein Teil" attracted controversy in Germany; the media dubbed it the "Kannibalensong" (cannibal song), which helped to boost it to second place in the German music charts after its release in early August 2004.

At the beginning of the song in the video, the phrase "Suche gut gebauten Achtzehn- bis Dreißigjährigen zum Schlachten – Der Metzgermeister" ("Looking for a well built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered – The Master Butcher") is spoken, voiced by Ollie, although the album version of the song does not have this beginning.

The track itself is reminiscent of Depeche Mode's early work, with repetitive acoustic guitar and a stripped-down, insistent beat.

In the context of a disc filled with the imagery of "great black gaps in the fabric of human rationality", Rammstein somehow manage to make "honest and sincere romance seem just slightly alien, and tinted with enough melancholy to satisfy the heartiest emo-kid."

It features two bonus tracks: "Mein Teil (You Are What You Eat Edit)" and "Amerika (Digital Hardcore Mix)".

The album artwork shows a damaged aeroplane cockpit voice recorder depicted on the front and back covers.

The inner part of the Digipak edition case shows a picture of the six members in suits wielding suitcases and weapons (like Michael Douglas in Falling Down) leaving from a crashed aeroplane.

He also mentioned that the track "Los" features a bluesy guitar that "adds some quirk to the band's stern Teutonic pallette."

"[6] The album sold 26,716 copies in the United States in its first week of release in November 2004 to debut at position no.

[4] It was in the top ten in several European charts and reached number one in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Finland, Estonia and Mexico.