Pink Floyd's bassist Roger Waters proposed in late 1971 that their next album should explore things that make people mad, drawing on the pressures of the band's touring life and the mental health struggles of former member Syd Barrett. The album was first performed as a whole in February 1972 at the Rainbow Theatre in London, more than a year before release. It had been provisionally called Dark Side of the Moon, a pun on lunacy rather than astronomy, but another band already used that name, so it briefly became Eclipse before the band restored its original preference. Band members used a 28-track mixing desk and quadraphonic output on tour, and they shipped nine tonnes of equipment in three lorries. Waters demoed material in a garden shed at his home. Critics were divided at the first performance, with one praising its musical questioning and another complaining about the sound effects. The band also recorded music for the film La Vallée during the process. The album was completed in January 1973.

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.