Over a month prior to the commencement of the film's principal photography, composer Michael Giacchino announced that he would return to score the sequel to 2009's Star Trek.

[2] One of Giacchino's main tasks with the sequel, later entitled Star Trek Into Darkness, was to evolve the themes from the previous installment and create new ones to reflect the film's darker tone.

"[Director J. J. Abrams] just wanted it to feel like we weren't in a Star Trek movie," Giacchino said.

[7] The region-specific musicians include Kassia Conway with Anne Preven (United States/Canada), Bo Bruce with Gary Lightbody (United Kingdom), Penelope Austin with Robert Conley (Australia), Kyary Pamyu Pamyu with Yasutaka Nakata (Japan), I.V.

[8] On July 28, 2014, Varèse Sarabande released a 6000-copy limited edition expansion of Giacchino's score over two discs.

Disc 1: Disc 2: * - Contains material that was present on the original soundtrack as "Kronos Wartet" ** - Contains material that was present on the original soundtrack as "Brigadoom" † - Contains material that was present on the original soundtrack as "Star Trek Main Theme", and contains "Theme from Star Trek (TV Series)" by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry Credits adopted from Allmusic:[9]