[2] However, Georgia later decided to withdraw anyway after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of the contest's rules.

The song won both the jury vote and televote and received 387 points out of a possible 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest.

[4][5] The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of an emergency reconstruction of the building, saying: "It will not be required for the Eurovision Song Contest.

[9][10] The country eventually withdrew from the contest due to its entry being deemed to contain political references, including in the title a play on words of Russia's prime minister's surname.

[13] In the end, after originally confirming their intent to participate in Moscow, SMRTV was forced to withdraw from the event due to financial difficulties that prevented a second entry.

[14][15] The Latvian broadcaster, Latvijas Televīzija (LTV), had reportedly withdrawn from the 2009 contest on 17 December 2008, three days after the final participation deadline.

[2] In addition to those pre-qualified, the final also included the ten selected countries from each semi-final, making a total of twenty-five participants.

The music accompanying the postcards used to introduce each participating country was written and produced by British electronic musician Matthew Herbert.

It continued with the appearance of Miss World 2008, Ksenia Sukhinova of Russia, and then a group of famous landmarks from the participating country were shown in computer animation.

Then Sukhinova reappeared again, wearing a hat comprising all of the landmarks shown (as well as having different hairstyle & make-up each time) and a T-shirt with the colours of the respective country's flag.

The words shown were as were as following, listed in alphabetical order: On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place at the Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel.

Contest organisers sent a questionnaire regarding the voting system to participating broadcasters, and a reference group incorporated the responses into their suggestions for next year's format.

[34] Telewizja Polska (TVP), the Polish broadcaster, suggested that an international jury similar to the one used in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest be introduced in the Eurovision Song Contest to lessen the impact of neighbourly voting and place more emphasis on the artistic value of the song.

Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for Austria's public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), has stated that the 2008 format with two semi-finals "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process," and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009.

[52] In the second semi final, Spain's and Albania's delays in broadcasting the show meant that their results were provided by the back-up juries.

Additionally, the official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer-to-peer medium Octoshape.

[168] The 2009 contest experienced several controversies and incidents during its lead-up, including the interpretation of over Georgia's entry as an attack against the Russian prime minister,[169] conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan stemming from the inclusion of a monument in a disputed region to represent Armenia in a video introduction,[170] Spain's broadcaster showing a semi-final on tape delay after a scheduling conflict,[171] and protests over Russia's treatment of LGBT people to coincide with the contest.

After the first semi-final, representatives for Azerbaijan complained to the EBU over the introductory "postcard" preceding the Armenian entry, since the video clip had included a depiction of We Are Our Mountains, a monumental statue located in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic, which is considered to be a de jure part of Azerbaijan.

The EBU fined Ictimai TV an undisclosed sum and is said to have threatened to exclude the broadcaster from the competition for up to three years if further infractions of the Eurovision Song Contest rules are made.

This incident initiated an EBU investigation that resulted in a change to the Eurovision rules to allow a country's participating broadcaster to be liable "for any disclosure of information which could be used to identify voters".

[171] The Spanish entry, "La noche es para mí", did not fare well in the contest itself, placing 24th during the finals.

The selected entry, Stephane & 3G with "We Don't Wanna Put In", gained coverage and controversy due to perceived political connotations within its lyrics relating to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

[181] The EBU rejected the song due to these political connotations, calling it a clear breach of the contest's rules.

[191] The Dutch group De Toppers made news by member Gordon threatening to boycott the final if the gay parade was violently beaten down.

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.

After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2009 poll was also the winner of the contest, Norway's "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak; the top five results are shown below.

The album featured all 42 songs that entered in the 2009 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.