The album was the last in the original three-album deal which Oldfield had signed with Warner after leaving Virgin, starting with Tubular Bells II.

After the daughter of a Warner Music exec said it sounded boring, Oldfield added synthesizers and more instruments to the album.

"Women of Ireland", although credited as a traditional song, is not: the main theme is a melody written by Irish composer Seán Ó Riada as a musical setting of the poem "Mná na hÉireann", written by Peadar Ó Doirnín; Oldfield's rendition also includes an interpolation of the fourth movement (Sarabande) of George Frideric Handel's Keyboard suite in D minor, popularised by its use by Stanley Kubrick in his 1975 film Barry Lyndon, where Ó Riada's tune also appears (Oldfield's "Women of Ireland" was reportedly inspired by the coupling of both pieces in the film).

"Dark Island" is a Scottish instrumental and song; the original music was written by Iain Maclachlan as Dr. Mackay's Farewell to Creagorry in 1958.

"Mont Saint-Michel", a piece on the album composed by Oldfield, refers to a tidal island in France.