Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times, including their 2015 entry "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland and Debrah Scarlett.

[2] The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation.

[4] Jan Fredrik Karlsen was assigned as the new music producer for the competition, replacing Vivi Stenberg who held the position since 2013.

[10] The competing acts and songs were revealed on 19 January 2016 during a press conference at NRK studios, presented by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Silya Nymoen and Jan Fredrik Karlsen and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no.

"Happy Rush" was compared to a song the performer had released in 2011 under a different artistic name and in collaboration with the same authors: "Cannabus" by SimenA featuring Freddy Genius.

In the Gold Final, the results of the public televote were revealed by Norway's five regions and led to the victory of "Icebreaker" performed by Agnete with 166,728 votes.

[16] In late March 2016, Agnete filmed a music video for "Icebreaker" on the sea ice in Varangerbotn and at the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel in Alta.

[19] Agnete announced in mid-March 2016 that she planned to complete a 13 nation promo tour ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest, which included stops in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece and France.

However, Agnete contracted a viral infection prior to the start of her promotional tour and ended up cancelling all appearance dates in the interest of recovering in time for the Eurovision Song Contest.

[24] However, following Romania's disqualification from the contest on 22 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, Norway's performing position shifted to 15.

[26] An alternative broadcast of the final was also televised on NRK3 with commentary by the hosts of the NRK P3 radio show P3morgen Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Reiten Nordnes and Markus Ekrem Neby.

Agnete was also joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Gabriel Alares, Ingunn Dalland, Nicoline Berg Kaasin and Charlotte Bredesen.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.