The album marked the fifth consecutive collaboration between Aronofsky and English composer Clint Mansell. Mansell scored the film based on Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake,[2] but with radical changes to the music.[3] Because of the use of Tchaikovsky's music, the score was deemed ineligible to be entered into the 2010 Academy Awards for Best Original Score.[4]
Violinist Tim Fain was featured in performance both on-screen and in the soundtrack of Black Swan,[5] and the film also featured various new pieces of music by English production duo The Chemical Brothers, although they are not featured on the official soundtrack.[6]