The band had written a song specifically for the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The band had taken time off from recording their infamous 2014 album Songs of Innocence to do so. The band was invited to write the song by movie producer Harvey Weinstein who was previously involved in the 2002 film Gangs of New York, which U2 also wrote the song "The Hands That Built America" for. Both songs resulted in Academy Award nominations and Golden Globe wins for U2.
The song is the second of two songs to garner U2 an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song (the other being 2002's "The Hands That Built America" from Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It was the fourth song to garner U2 a Golden Globe nomination (after 1993's" "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" from Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close!, 1995's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever," and 2002's "The Hands That Built America" from Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It is the second song to earn U2 a Golden Globe win after "The Hands That Built America."