[1] The nation's debut entry in the 2008 contest, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify for the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in.

[1] On 31 October 2016, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) included San Marino in their list of the 43 countries that had signed up to partake in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

[7] Five days later, SMRTV held a press conference where they announced that they had internally selected the song "Spirit of the Night" to be performed by Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson.

[6][8] Monetta had previously represented San Marino in 2012, 2013 and 2014, while Wilson, originally of the United States, had first come to Europe to star in Michael Jackson's musical Sisterella.

[11] In December 2016, prior to the announcement of the selected entrants, Italian singer Tony Maiello claimed through a Facebook post that he had been approached to represent the nation if he paid 500,000 euros for promotion; costs he described as illegal.

[14] Italian singer Arisa also later revealed that she had been approached to represent the nation; however, her costs were quoted at 300,000 euros, which her record label was unwilling to pay.

The video, along with an accompanying "making of" clip, was filmed by Siegel's daughter Alana and presented to the public during a press event on 24 March 2017 at the Grand Hotel San Marino.

[16][17] In the following weeks, Monetta and Wilson made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Spirit of the Night" as the Sammarinese Eurovision entry.

[18][19] On 8 April 2017, the two performed during the ninth annual edition of Eurovision in Concert which was held at the club Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.

[25] However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April 2017 and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, San Marino's performing position shifted to 10.