The series was inspired by oboist Blair Tindall's 2005 memoir 'Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music,' about her career playing high-profile gigs with ensembles like the New York Philharmonic and various Broadway show orchestras.

The lead character Rodrigo, played by Gael García Bernal, is loosely based on Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Gustavo Dudamel personally coached Gael García Bernal before Bernal conducted, in character as Rodrigo, an actual performance of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, with footage used for the season 2 opener.

Gustavo Dudamel makes a cameo in the season 2 premiere, playing a stagehand trying to convince Rodrigo to move to Los Angeles.

Blair Tindall, the oboist and author whose memoir inspired the series, appears in a cameo in the show.

Several real-life musicians made cameo appearances in the series, including violinist Joshua Bell, pianists Emanuel Ax and Lang Lang, composers Anton Coppola and Nico Muhly, Broadway star Brian d'Arcy James, and conductors Alan Gilbert and Bernard Uzan.

All the oboe solos played by the protagonist and other characters throughout the series were actually performed by Lelie Resnick, principal oboist of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Much of the original music for the show, including the piece 'Impromptu' attributed in-story to the character Thomas Pembridge, was composed by contemporary composer Missy Mazzoli, while composer Laura Karpman took over for Pembridge's more experimental season 4 music.

Irish composer and conductor Eímear Noone served as Lola Kirke's real-life conducting coach during season four.

Seasons three and four put a spotlight on women composers and conductors, featuring historical figures such as Vítězslava Kaprálová, Isabella Leonarda, Nannerl Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn, plus a cameo by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw playing herself and performing one of her own compositions.

The first season received a 91% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 critic reviews and a score of 73 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews.

While some critics praised the show's push for gender equity, others criticized its almost all-white orchestra and main cast as unrealistic given the prevalence of East Asian musicians in real-life orchestras.