In July 2010, the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) announced that they would be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest after a three-year absence following their withdrawal in 2008.

Thirty songs competed in an online voting round titled Guten Morgen Düsseldorf, of which ten were selected to proceed to the national final.

Performing during the show in position 2, "The Secret Is Love" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May.

[1] The nation has won the contest on one occasion: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens.

[6] The nation also did not participate in 2009 and 2010, with ORF Head of Entertainment Edgar Böhm stating that the newly introduced semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process".

[7] Following their three-year absence, ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 July 2010.

[8][9] From 2002 to 2005, ORF had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria.

In 2007, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest.

[13] Thirty songs competed in an online selection titled Guten Morgen Düsseldorf (Good Morning Düsseldorf), where public voting and an expert jury panel consisting of representatives of the radio channel Ö3 selected ten entries for the national final.

[16][17] All applications were posted on Ö3's official website, which included entries from former Austrian Eurovision representatives Hans Kreuzmayr–Waterloo (1976), Josef Krassnitzer–Robinson (1976), Petra Frey (1994), Alf Poier (2003) and di Bernando (2004 as part of Tie Break).

[19] The thirty competing songs were posted on Ö3's official website for a public voting period that ran between 3 and 31 January 2011.

On 17 January 2011, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.

The Austrian performance featured Nadine Beiler performing on stage in a short black dress with gemstones and Swarovski crystals attached, with flying diamonds on a black background appearing on the LED screens as well as a revolving star appearing on the stage floor.

[25][26] Nadine Beiler was joined by five backing vocalists on stage: Anne Semper, Juliane Janoska, Karin Ziegelwanger, Maria Rerych and Renee Benson.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.