Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released on February 12, 1981 on Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, Permanent Waves (1980), the band started to write and record new material in August 1980 with co-producer Terry Brown. They continued to write songs with a more radio friendly format, featuring tighter song structures and songs of shorter length compared to their early albums.

Moving Pictures received a positive reception from current and retrospective music critics and became an instant commercial success, reaching number one in Canada and number 3 in the United States and the United Kingdom. It remains Rush's highest selling album in the United States after it was certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for over 4 million copies sold. "Limelight", "Tom Sawyer" and "Vital Signs" were released as singles across 1981, and the instrumental "YYZ" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Rush supported the album with a concert tour from September 1980 to July 1981.

In June 1980, the band ended their ten-month tour of North America and the United Kingdom in support of their seventh studio album, Permanent Waves (1980). During the tour's stop in New York City, the band agreed to start work on a new studio album, rather than prepare a second live album from several recordings they set up during the tour, partly due to the ideas they were developing at sound checks interested them enough to put them onto tape. Peart was instrumental in doing a new album, and Lee and Lifeson found themselves catching onto his enthusiasm. The trio pitched the idea to their manager and producer who had mapped out a two-year plan for them, but agreed to the sudden change and cancelled the schedule. After a short break, they regrouped at Phase One Studios in Toronto, Canada in July 1980 with members of rock band Max Webster to record "Battlescar" for their album. During the sessions, their lyricist Pye Dubois suggested a song that he thought was suitable for Rush to record which was developed into "Tom Sawyer". Rush then moved to Stony Lake, Ontario to write and prepare material for their new album. The sessions were productive, with "The Camera Eye" the first song to be worked on, followed by "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "YYZ" and "Limelight". Following the initial writing sessions, Rush returned to Phase One Studios with their co-producer Terry Brown and prepared demos of the songs. The band worked on them further during rehearsals of their 1980–1981 tour which began in September, and included "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight" in their live set prior to recording.

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