The recording features Harrison's slide guitar extensively and contributions from four musicians who formed the nucleus of his tour band: Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark.

Reviewers note the track as an example of its parent album's more diverse musical genres, namely funk and rhythm and blues, compared with the more traditional rock orientation of Harrison's earlier solo work.

The song later appeared as the B-side of Harrison's second single off his 1975 album Extra Texture, "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", which was the final release by Apple Records in its original incarnation.

In his single sentence discussing "Māya Love" in I, Me, Mine, his 1980 autobiography, George Harrison states that he wrote the song "purely as a slide guitar tune with the words added later".

[4] Simon Leng, Harrison's musical biographer, likens "Māya Love" to "Woman Don't You Cry for Me" and the 1987 song "Cloud 9", in that they all feature lyrics that were "appended out of necessity" rather than created through genuine inspiration.

[27] Prior to this project, in late August through to the start of September,[26] "Māya Love" was among four tracks rush-recorded at FPSHOT, Harrison's home studio in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire,[28] for inclusion on his album, also called Dark Horse.

[37] As other examples of a performance he describes as "chock full of R&B hooks", Leng notes the "tight, funky" support provided by Weeks on bass and Newmark's drums, and a "snappy" horn arrangement from Scott.

[21] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter suggest that Harrison overdubbed his vocals at A&M Studios in Los Angeles,[39] where he combined tour rehearsals with finishing the album, during the last three weeks of October.

[46][47] Harrison's hoarse, Louis Armstrong-like[48] singing marred the performances for many concertgoers[25][49] and placed added importance on songs like "Māya Love", whose lengthy instrumental breaks afforded some respite for his voice.

[57][58] Aside from the song "Dark Horse", which Apple distributor Capitol Records had issued as an advance single in Canada and the United States,[59] the studio version of "Māya Love" was the first track from the album to receive a public airing.

[17] Harrison played a rough mix of the song[17] during his radio interview with KLOL's Levi Booker in the early hours of 25 November,[60] following his well-received evening show at Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion.