[b] One of Mozart's most famous works, the serenade is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, cello and double bass, but is often performed by string orchestras.

[3] The serenade was completed in Vienna on 10 August 1787,[3] around the time Mozart was working on the second act of his opera Don Giovanni.

[6] The traditionally used name of the work comes from the entry Mozart made for it in his personal catalog, which begins, "Eine kleine Nacht-Musick".

[c] As Zaslaw and Cowdery point out, Mozart almost certainly was not giving the piece a special title, but only entering in his records that he had completed a little serenade.

[6] Of the music, Hildesheimer writes, "even if we hear it on every street corner, its high quality is undisputed, an occasional piece from a light but happy pen.

Daniel Heartz describes the movement as evoking gavotte rhythm: each of its sections begins in the middle of the measure, with a double upbeat.

In his 1984 recording, Christopher Hogwood used a minuet of Thomas Attwood (found in his sketchbooks used while he took lessons from Mozart), and an additional newly composed trio to substitute the missing movement.