The Ultra Zone is structurally similar to Vai's previous album, Fire Garden, in that the first half of the album consists mainly of instrumentals, and the second half mainly of vocal songs; however, unlike Fire Garden, The Ultra Zone is not formally divided into two "phases".

The Ultra Zone is notable for its tributes to two legendary guitarists: Frank Zappa (on the track "Frank"), and Stevie Ray Vaughan (on the track "Jibboom").

Also notable is the fact that this was Vai's last studio album of original material until 2005's Real Illusions: Reflections; in the years in between, he released several compilations of his material, as well as a live album.

This album includes the participations of Koshi Inaba and Tak Matsumoto from the Japanese band B'z on "Asian Sky".