[6] Due to the limited budget, Satriani had to use whatever studio time and rooms were available, and as a result printed his effects to tape while tracking.

This proved fortuitous for "Surfing with the Alien", whose solo was recorded with a malfunctioning Eventide H949 as his allotted studio time nearly ended.

[6] To save money, the album heavily used drum machines, programmed by Bongo Bob Smith, with Jeff Campitelli recording overdubs of hi-hats, cymbals, toms and snares.

Satriani stated this gave the music an "awkward charm", and maintained the combination of loose guitar playing and machine-like drum programming.

Satriani described the arrangements of the album as follows:"Even though my sensibilities were driving me to be very succinct on the record—with very obvious chorus, bridge, and verse sections—after I tracked the outro to “Surfing,” I dug it so much that it set the template for the rest of the record.

[5] It contains fast and complex songs such as the title track and "Satch Boogie", which helped to further popularize shred guitar during that time.

[8][11][12] However, Jim Kozlowski, the production manager for Relativity Records, was a comic book fan and had used the nickname "The Silver Surfer" as a radio DJ name.

Released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records,[18] Surfing with the Alien charted at number 29 on the Billboard 200, proving to be Satriani's third highest-charting album in the United States.

[17] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine was more impressed by his technical abilities and praised Surfing with the Alien, writing that it "can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late '80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred.

Beautifully played and well-paced, it manages to capture all the icy fire of fusion jazz without losing any of the visceral power of rock & roll".

[28] For Record Store Day Black Friday 2019, the album was re-released as a limited edition, gatefold cover on colored vinyl.

The album artwork has been modified for this release, showing only the headstock of Joe's guitar, instead of the surfer while the background maintains a similar color scheme as the original.