Patton conceived of the album while living in Bologna, and became attracted to music he heard on the radio featuring pop singers backed by orchestras.

[1] Having considered making an album covering these songs for some time, Patton initially believed he would approach the project with a small band, but was offered the chance to compose music for an orchestra.

[2][5] The singer has described his admiration for Morricone's writing, feeling that the composer turned "what could be banal, surface-style pop into really deep, orchestrated, tense and compelling music".

[4] When assembling the cut for "Deep Down", Patton was able to get in touch with the original vocalist, a woman named Christy, though mutual friend Daniele Luppi.

[14] The album's cover feature a die-cut design based on poster artwork created to advertise one of the early Mondo Cane concerts.

[2] Lymangrover singled out "Deep Down" as a highlight, and felt that the covers were treated with due deference to the original recordings while still featuring Patton's idiosyncratic take on them.

[2] Philip Bloomfield of Drowned in Sound awarded Mondo Cane a score of seven out of ten, describing it as "yet more proof that his talent and his breadth are perhaps indeed 'senza fine'".

[3] Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo rated Mondo Cane three stars out of five, describing Patton as "less a musician than a kind of gonzo multi-specialty clearinghouse".

[10] Writing for The Boston Globe, James Reed described Mondo Cane as "offbeat for sure but not off-putting", adding that "language is no barrier with music this lovely".

[13] However, Monro felt that, on listening to the album, it was "his best work in close to a decade", describing it as "a summer-time staple and a faithful reminder that Mike Patton can sing but sadly little else".