Written by lead guitarist Andy Bell, the song features a distinctive swirling guitar riff, a strong, fill-based drum beat, and a coda that includes a string quartet.

[5] "Vapour Trail" is written in standard tuning, with the main riff constructed from a four chord pattern (C♯ minor–B–A–E) which opens the song and repeats throughout, characterized by the distinct sound of two Rickenbacker 12-string guitars.

A heavy drum beat centered around fills and syncopation on the snare and tom-toms, a signature part of drummer Laurence "Loz" Colbert's style, is also a major force of the song's composition.

The single was essentially a re-hash of the band's Today Forever EP (which had not seen a US release), using the first three tracks as B-sides, as well as reusing the cover artwork.

Pitchfork voted it as number 145 on its Top 200 Tracks of the 90s, writing the song "remains immense, standing tall as the most gripping four-and-half-minutes of their career.

The video consists of grainy, slowed-down, color negative footage of the band in the Oxfordshire villages and hamlets of Minster Lovell, Stadhampton and Godstow.