It received critical acclaim, with media outlets praising Gaga for demonstrating artistic and musical qualities while citing it as one of the top Super Bowl halftime performances ever.

Lady Gaga started singing "God Bless America" (1939) as drones swarm behind her emitting red, white and blue color.

As the song ended, Gaga headed towards a star-shaped structure on another corner of the stage before singing "Telephone" (2009), while holding her characteristic "Disco Stick" prop.

For the finale of "Bad Romance" (2009), a team of white-clad dancers strutted across the main stage as Gaga disappeared into the crowd for a quick-change.

She finally ran back onto the stage wearing a white football-inspired costume as they performed the track's choreography accompanied by flamethrowers.

Around August 2016, media outlets began reporting that Adele was in discussions with the National Football League (NFL) to perform at the Super Bowl LI halftime show, which was planned for February 5, 2017, at Houston's NRG Stadium.

She explained that to win, fans had to upload a 15–60-second video on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtags #GOHContest and #PepsiHalftime by December 15, professing their fandom for Gaga.

[15] Pepsi confirmed in a press release that a ten-second countdown would precede Gaga's performance, when a lead-in, produced by Creator's Studio featuring jazz singer Tony Bennett, would be shown.

[20] Pepsi uploaded a behind-the-scenes video from the rehearsals, where Gaga explained the main challenge was to make the halftime performance different from the preceding years but to still keep it about the music.

On his social media, choreographer Richy Jackson was shown in the middle of a session with the dancers, displaying the characteristic moves from the song, "Bad Romance".

"[9] In an interview with Billboard, Gaga explained: "I really had a real sense of being in the zone for this performance, worked on it for a really long time, took months, trained hard.

[26] The singer wore a custom, Atelier Versace, iridescent-colored jumpsuit, beaded all over with Swarovski crystals, along with high shoulder pads and matching knee-length boots.

Billboard deemed both the outfits a "customary nod" to Gaga's past, adding, "It was a solid balance of glam and sexy without overdoing it [...] [The dress] gave fantasy to her fans.

[27] Gaga's longtime collaborator Brandon Maxwell styled her looks; singer David Bowie's persona Ziggy Stardust influenced her makeup.

[27] According to Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times choosing Versace as her fashion brand for the costumes "helped to support a subtler, arguably more powerful, message" by Gaga.

She had promised to make the show about "inclusion" and to that extent, using Versace and a number of other designers like Dr. Martens and Vera Wang made the point.

[32] "All our field cast and staging experts, technicians and vendors [had] stepped up to support the vision, and Gaga herself, having embraced the concept early on, [had] taken on the task with more interest and heart than any other artist that I've worked with in the last 11 years," Rodgers concluded.

[34] An array of 36 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures was added around the roof of NRG Stadium, which lit the Houston night sky with light beams.

[31] While performing on top of NRG Stadium, a fleet of 300 synchronized, LED-equipped "Shooting Star" quadcopter drones provided by Intel accompanied Gaga.

With permission from producer Ricky Kirshner, he reached out to Intel representatives and communicated that he wanted to use their drone technology for a "large TV show in February.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forbid the use of drones within a 34.5 miles (55.5 km) radius of NRG Stadium (which is also located near William P. Hobby Airport).

After coming to a consensus with the creative team, they began storyboarding the drones, finally deciding to display a star array, the American flag and the Pepsi logo.

[43] Writing for Variety, Sonia Saraiya described the show as "breathtaking" and "soar[ing]", but felt it "lacked an iconic moment or emotional button".

[17] Nico Land of Salon noted Gaga was the first artist to refer to the LGBTQ community during a Super Bowl halftime show when she sang "Born This Way".

He said, "Putting LGBT issues on the main stage at the Super Bowl served as a powerful message of queer solidarity in the face on an unprecedented wave of challenges from our government."

[45] According to Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair, the performance was a "dog whistle" against Trump's plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

[48][49] In the United States, the Super Bowl LI halftime show experienced the first increase in viewership since 2015 (and the last such ratings rebound in the 2010s decade).

According to statistics presented by Billboard, the most tweeted moments were when the show ended, followed by Gaga waving at her parents from the stage, and when the singer descended from the NRG Stadium roof in a harness.

The singer sold a total of 125,000 digital song downloads, led by "Million Reasons" (45,000 up by 900%), then "Bad Romance" (13,000), "Born This Way" (12,000) and "Poker Face" (10,000).

[56] Gaga reached number one on the Billboard Artist 100 chart, which measures activity across various social media websites as well as record sales.