The soundtrack was composed by John Barry, and published by EMI/Capitol. The theme song, “A View to a Kill”, was written by Barry and Duran Duran, and performed by the band. “May Day Jumps” is the only track that uses the “James Bond Theme”. Barry’s composition from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was modified for use in the songs “Snow Job”, “He’s Dangerous” and “Golden Gate Fight” of A View to a Kill. “A View to a Kill” reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, thus becoming the peak song in the James Bond series. The 2015 track Writing’s On The Wall later out performed the song in the UK by reaching number one.

Duran Duran was chosen to do the song after bassist John Taylor (a lifelong Bond fan) approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked “When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?”

During the opening sequence, a cover version of the 1965 Beach Boys song “California Girls”, performed by Gidea Park with Adrian Baker (a tribute band), is used during a chase in which Bond snowboards; it has been suggested that this sequence helped initiate interest in snowboarding.