'Heroes' was recorded in 1977 at Hansa Studio 2 in West Berlin, a city split by the Wall, and the setting shaped the song. The backing track was laid down first and the lyrics were improvised at the microphone afterwards. Producer Tony Visconti devised a 'multi-latch' system in which three microphones at different distances opened only when Bowie sang loudly enough. The song imagines two lovers, one from East and one from West Berlin, dreaming of freedom while living under constant threat; the quotation marks in the title signal irony. The single peaked at only number 24 in the UK, but after Bowie's death in 2016 it climbed to number 12.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.