Dark Horse came out of the most turbulent year of George Harrison's solo career: his marriage to Pattie Boyd was ending, he was setting up his own Dark Horse Records label and he was preparing the first North American tour by an ex-Beatle. During the sessions his voice was badly affected by laryngitis, audible in the hoarse singing that gives this fifth studio album its character. The title track and the Christmas single "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" became the best known songs, alongside "Far East Man", written with Ron Wood, and a rewritten version of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" in which Harrison worked through his own separation. The album originally appeared in 1974 on Apple Records and the title stayed with him as the name of his label.

This edition is an LP pressed as a zoetrope picture disc for Record Store Day.