The illegitimate son of a Russian nobleman, Alexander Borodin studied music from an early age, but his formal academic training was in the sciences. He earned a doctorate in chemistry and became a medical doctor, although he never practiced, focusing on a career as a research chemist. Borodin did important work in his chosen field and counted among his colleagues Dmitri Mendeleev, who formulated the periodic table.

Throughout his life Borodin composed in his spare time, often setting aside works unfinished at the end of a vacation period. Despite these frequent interruptions, he was still able to compose a number of works that have found a place in the repertoire, including the 1880 tone poem In Central Asia (sometimes called In the Steppes of Central Asia), three symphonies (the second of which is especially remarkable and is one of his most performed orchestral works), and a pair of string quartets—the nocturne of the second quartet has gained great fame in arrangements for full string orchestra.

In 1869 Borodin began work on an opera that would occupy him intermittently for the remaining 18 years of his life. Based on a narrative called The Saga of Igor's Army by his friend Vasily Stassov, the opera told the story Prince Igor, whose city, Puitvil, was overrun in the year 1185 by the Polovtsi, a Mongol-like nomadic tribe led by Khan Kontchak.

By the end of Act I Prince Igor has been captured by the Polovtsi and much of the opera's second act is given over to a ballet sequence in which the male and female slaves of the Polovtsi dance to entertain Igor and the Khan. This dance sequence, usually coupled with the "Dance of the Polovtsian Maidens" from Act I (as it is this afternoon), is often excerpted for concert performance. In fact, the "Polovtsian Dances" were first performed separately, at the behest of Borodin's fellow composer, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who prodded Borodin along by orchestrating the "Dance of the Polovtsian Maidens" and assisting with the orchestration of the "Polovtsian Dances."

The dances achieved their first great success independent of the opera when Sergei Diaghilev choreographed them for his Paris troupe in 1909. The soaring melody of the first dance achieved even greater fame and popularity when it was used (along with a number of other tunes from other Borodin works) for the Broadway musical Kismet for the song "Strangers in Paradise."