A concert film released on DVD, also called Secret World Live, was released simultaneously whose track listing omits "Red Rain" and adds "San Jacinto" after "Blood of Eden".

The album was recorded over the two nights of 16 and 17 November 1993 at the Palasport Nuovo in Modena, Italy.

It received a nomination for the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Record Sleeve Packaging Design.

Danny Jenkins said of his photograph: "I have always been interested in making images and had amassed an extensive collection of 80s office detritus for my digital montages [...] The core photograph of the album was shot in my studio back yard with my Pentax K1000 camera [...] The receiver was randomly picked from a pile of phones and the hand actually belongs to my long-suffering studio assistant Becky Jemmett.

It was pure luck and chance that the phone and hand were a convincing enough match for Peter's on-stage version.