After the Get Back sessions, Paul McCartney suggested the Beatles make an album the way they used to, free of the conflict that marked The Beatles, also known as the White Album. Producer George Martin agreed on the condition that the band accept his discipline and his production methods, particularly from John Lennon. Many accounts of the band said the four members knew they were heading for a split while recording Abbey Road. However, a taped meeting from October 1969, after the album came out, showed the group still trying to resolve their songwriting differences. Some who worked on the album sensed an ending anyway, with engineer Alan Parsons later writing that it would be the last time the Beatles were the Beatles. George Harrison said it felt as if they were reaching the end of the line.

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.