[13] On October 4, music journalist and filmmaker Nelson George announced he was directing a documentary on the making of Thriller, which will include never-before-seen footage.

Thriller 40 includes the original demo for Jackson's song "Behind the Mask" (which was previously reworked for the 2010 posthumous album Michael),[17] the original demo for "Thriller" ("Starlight"); a demo of "Best of Joy" (released on the Michael album) titled "The Toy" (intended for the 1982 Richard Pryor film of the same name); the previously unreleased songs "She's Trouble", "What a Lovely Way to Go" and "Who Do You Know", and the tracks "Got the Hots" (first released as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of Thriller 25 and several editions of King of Pop), "Carousel" (a shorter version was included on the 2001 special edition), "Can't Get Outta the Rain" (released in 2008 as part of the 3-CD edition of The Essential Michael Jackson) and "Sunset Driver" (released in 2004 on The Ultimate Collection).

The company also announced additional releases of the original album by audiophile reissue label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on both stereo Super Audio CD and LP, limited to 40,000 numbered copies.

[18][19] The latter portion of the announcement was later credited by The Washington Post journalist Geoff Edgers with fueling public skepticism towards Mobile Fidelity that culminated in a subsequent controversy over them using Direct Stream Digital files in vinyl releases that were marketed as coming directly from analog master tapes.

Internationally it debuted the same day in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Latin America and South Korea.