Gentlemen Take Polaroids was the band's first album for the Virgin Records label after leaving Hansa-Ariola, which had released the band's first three albums. The record continued in the vein of their previous album Quiet Life, drawing on its elegant Euro-disco stylings coupled with more ambitious arrangements.
Frontman and songwriter David Sylvian commented by the time of this album, he had become a "paranoid perfectionist" and that he had come to dominate the band's recording sessions, forcing the other members to comply with his vision which ultimately led to the band's break up – a situation he took some responsibility for he considers 1979's Quiet Life to be the only album which the band worked on in a truly collaborative manner. This was the last Japan album to feature guitarist Rob Dean, who left the band in spring 1981. Dean took little part in the recording of the album and was only occasionally called in by the band to add guitar.
Lyrically the songs were also a continuation of themes on the previous album, such as travel and escape to foreign climes in the song "Swing", while the lyrics of "Nightporter" introduced a more introspective nature of Sylvian's songwriting. "Taking Islands in Africa", the title of which was taken from a line in "Swing", was a collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was given a songwriting credit for the track.
The album was completed in two months. The band and producer John Punter worked meticulously on the arrangements with multiple takes on each instrument and the master edited from different takes. Some of the songs such as "My New Career" and "Taking Islands in Africa" were written in the studio.
There was an unreleased song still sitting in the vaults from the sessions for this album; "Some Kind of Fool" (which Sylvian re-recorded the vocals for and released on Everything and Nothing). At the beginning of the recording sessions the band also rehearsed an unfinished song called "Angel in Furs", but it is unclear if a recording exists. The guitar melody of the song is said to have been used as the vocal melody of "My New Career".
The album was preceded by the release of the title track as a single in October 1980, which peaked at number 60 in the UK singles chart, the group's first single to chart. The album itself was moderately successful in the UK on its release. It peaked at number 51, but re-entered the chart in 1982.
No further singles were immediately taken from the album, though "Nightporter" (influenced by the works of French composer Erik Satie, most particularly his Gymnopedies) was remixed and released as a single in November 1982, just after the band announced that they were breaking up. It peaked at number 29 in the UK singles chart, though both the edited 7" version and the full-length 12" remix remain unreleased on CD to this day.
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