Was the focus of a short and bitter flurry of allegations between Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) of plagiarism over similarities between this film and WB's Rhapsodie à quatre mains (1946). The controversy began when raw film from "Rhapsody Rabbit" was sent to be processed at a central film lab which serviced both Warner Bros. Cartoon Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studios. By accident, the finished negatives were sent to MGM, who eventually returned them, but Friz Freleng (the director on "Rhapsody Rabbit") suspected that Hanna and Barbera or others at MGM may have viewed the film before sending it on to Warner Bros. Hanna and Barbera counter-charged that Freleng had somehow overheard their ideas for "The Cat Concerto" and acted on it.
The piano playing of Tom the cat was dubbed by Scott Bradley (the Musical Director of MGM's Animation Department) who also made the special arrangement of Franz Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody. In some passages, to make it sound extra difficult and impossible for the cat to play while dealing with Jerry, it was arranged for 4-hand piano duet, and this was played by Bradley and John Crown - Head of Piano at University of Southern California - in the 1940s and 1950s. This obfuscation notwithstanding, in June 2017, then 16-year-old pianist Yannie Tan performed the arrangement live in Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The performance is available on Tan's YouTube channel.
Similarities between this film and Rhapsodie à quatre mains (1946): Main character wears a formal tailcoat, sits at a piano, plays Franz Liszt's "2nd Hungarian Rhapsody", and is bothered by a mouse.
Fred Quimby produced this short, which is centered around the musical piece "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. Quimby was born on the very same day that Liszt died: July 31, 1886.
Tom plays the correct notes on the piano in the intro.