Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" is widely regarded as a work of genius that seamlessly blends opera with pop music across its six-minute runtime, with Freddie Mercury's dramatic vision at its core. Brian May's guitar solo serves as a crucial bridge between the song's contrasting sections, contributing a career-defining moment that helps tie together the composition's disparate elements.

In a 2021 interview with Guitar Player, May revealed that he approached the solo by attempting to mimic Mercury's vocal theatrics on the fretboard, creating what he described as "singing a verse on the guitar." Rather than recycling existing melodies from the song, May crafted an entirely new melody that sits on the song's familiar chord sequence, allowing it to blend seamlessly into the operatic section whilst introducing fresh musical material that appears nowhere else in the piece.