Although Jam and Lewis wanted to feature K-Ci & JoJo on the song, they dropped the idea because they are signed to a different record label. About the recording, Joe said: She [Carey] gave me a call, and she was like, "I would love to do a duet with you. Come by the studio." When I got there, she played the song for me. I didn't expect to record the song, but when I heard it, I said, "Man, there's no way I'm going to leave this studio without my voice being on that record." Everything just happened so fast. I didn't expect for it to be a single or a video. Everything was just great. Jam and Lewis also asked the boy band 98 Degrees to join Carey and Joe on the track, as they wanted male harmonies. Carey talked about the collaboration in an interview with MTV. "It's like when I was writing 'One Sweet Day'. It really cried out for a group to be singing with me and for a strong male-female thing in terms of going back and forth, vocally. So you know, we just naturally came together." The vocals were recorded at Capri Digital Studios, Capri, Italy and Avatar Studios, New York City. The track was mixed by Supa Engineer Duo at Right Track Recording and mastered by Herb Powers. Composition "Thank God I Found You" was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and co-produced by Carey. The song is a moderately-paced R&B power ballad. Arion Berger of Rolling Stone noted that the song also exhibits influences of gospel music. The song carries an upbeat tone, backed by slow "manufactured pop beats". According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, "Thank God I Found You" is written in the key of B major. The beat is set in common time, and is set at a tempo of sixty-five beats per minute. The song follows the sequence of B–F/A–Gm7–F–E–F as its chord progression. Carey's and Joe's vocals in the song span over two octaves, from the note of D4 to the high note of D6. Composed in verse–chorus–bridge form, the chorus of "Thank God I Found You" is sung in the key of B major; Carey also makes use of melisma in the song. The final chorus is set a minor 3rd higher in the key of D major. The arrangement