SEGA originally hired Michael Jackson as composer for the music on the game but later dropped him over the infamous allegations of child molestation. However, his song writing team carried on without him and it is believed that part of what he had written remained in the game. There are notable similarities between the music recorded for Sonic 3 and music from Jackson's previous recorded tracks from the Dangerous album, and a track from the later released HIStory album (which was composed during the time of the game). For example, there is a sample in the Carnival Night Zone's music that is taken directly from the song "JAM" and the credits theme parallels Michael Jackson's later song, "Stranger in Moscow".