The film's Chinese title, 高海拔之戀 II ("High-Altitude Romance II"), positions it as a follow-up in a thematic series about high-altitude romance, though it is a standalone story.

Romancing in Thin Air is a Hong Kong-Chinese co-production directed by Johnnie To, released simultaneously in Hong Kong and mainland China on 9 February 2012, timed near Valentine's Day.

Variety critic Maggie Lee compared the film to Johnnie To's earlier work Don't Go Breaking My Heart, describing it as "still overwrought but less calculated than the earlier effort" and predicting it would appeal more to Valentine's Day audiences than to To's usual action or arthouse fanbase.

The story is set largely at a fictional ranch-style guesthouse called Deep Woods Hotel, located 3,800 metres up in the mountains of Shangri-La County in north-west Yunnan province, China.