There are four songs from the film on the album, "Sooner or Later", "More", "What Can You Lose?", and "Now I'm Following You", although the latter song appears here in a version different from the one in the film (the film version of "Now I'm Following You" was performed not by Madonna, but by the song's composer, Andy Paley).
The success of the single "Vogue", which was released prior to the album, combined with the publicity of Dick Tracy and Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour gave I'm Breathless a significant sales boost. I'm Breathless reached number two on the Billboard 200, reaching platinum status in three months. The second hit, "Hanky Panky", kept the album in the charts for several months, although it was eventually overtaken by Madonna's Immaculate Collection, released at the end of the year. As a consequence of this, two more planned single releases from the album, "Now I'm Following You" and "Sooner or Later", were cancelled in favour of "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me".
"Sooner or Later" later won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1991.
The song "Something to Remember" was included in Madonna's ballad compilation album of the same name.
Madonna commented in a 1998 interview that this album is one of her favourites saying "I love every song on that album."