After the album was recorded, it languished for a year as they tried to find a record company to put it out. Finally, Steve Popovich, who had just founded Cleveland International Records heard it and signed Meat Loaf. Bat Out Of Hell was one of the first releases by Cleveland International Records.
Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, and others who perform on the album come out of the musical theater world and the album was originally developed as a musical.
Jim Steinman describes the song "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" as essentially a country song or a country-rock song in the vein of the Eagles.
Ellen Foley sings the female lead in "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," but was performing in Hair on Broadway and a TV show called 3 Girls 3 when the album was released and a tour began. She was replaced by Karla DeVito in the live show and in the video for Paradise.
Todd Rundgren, who produced the album, says that Jim Steinman, who wrote the album, was influenced by Bruce Springsteen.