It was reported that West spent over $3 million provided by his record label Def Jam to record the album, making it one of the most expensive albums ever made. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and at Electric Lady Studios and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was recorded in sessions at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. Amid the widespread negative response to his behavior, his scheduled tour with recording artist Lady Gaga to promote his previous album, 808s & Heartbreak, was cancelled on October 1, 2009, without explanation. He was disgusted with the ensuing media response, which led to a hiatus from recording. He said later that fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst after Taylor Swift was awarded Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The album was conceived during West's self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, following a period of legal and public image controversy. George Condo's artwork for the album, showing West being straddled by an armless winged female (a phoenix), has been ranked as among the greatest album covers. It has since been ranked in several professionally curated lists as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album also won in the category of Best Rap Album at the 54th Grammy Awards but was not nominated for Album of the Year, which was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was an immediate and widespread critical success, and was named the best album of 2010 in many publications' year-end lists, including the annual Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide. Following the release, West performed headlining sets at several large festivals, including SXSW 2011, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Coachella 2011. West also used music festival performances and a short film set to the music, Runaway, in promotion of it. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
To help market My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West released free songs through his GOOD Fridays weekly free music release series and four singles-the Billboard Hot 100 hits " Power", " Runaway", and " Monster", and the international hit " All of the Lights". Thematically, the content explores West's status as a celebrity, consumer culture, race, and the idealism of the American Dream. Music journalists have noted the album features a maximalist aesthetic and opulent production quality with elements of West's previous works, including soul, baroque, electro, and symphonic styles, as well as progressive rock influences. It was produced mainly by West, along with a variety of high-profile producers such as: Mike Dean, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, RZA, S1, Bink, and DJ Frank E.