Gameplay mechanics differ slightly from previous Rock Band games, including the addition of a three-part vocal harmony system.

As in previous Rock Band games, successfully hitting the proper notes in sequence earns points for each player and boosts their "performance meter".

For guitar, the controller must be temporarily shifted to an upright position; for drums, a special "cymbal" (Green, or red for "Lefty" mode) is hit; and for vocals, a noise must be registered by the microphone when prompted.

By earning high score ratings for songs or challenges, players will unlock photographs and video clips of the Beatles taken from the Apple Corps' archive to provide "splashes of history".

At the same time, Dhani helped to introduce the Rock Band concept to the Beatles' company Apple Corps, and the shareholders Olivia Harrison (his mother), Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono.

[22][23] McCartney and Starr fact-checked certain anecdotes relating to the Beatles while Ono and Harrison provided insight on their late husbands' performances and lyrics.

The band's earlier songs, recorded on two-track and four-track equipment, needed to be reworked into a multitrack format that is essential in providing feedback to players.

In coordination with the art team, sound programmers attempted to realistically map the game's note tracks relative to the real performances by the Beatles.

[5] For guitar parts, colored notes were selected not necessarily to match tonally with the music, but to replicate the movement and finger positioning used by the original performers.

[5] Vocals were slowed down and broken into phonetic segments, allowing the art team to determine the appropriate facial movement for the virtual characters to go along with the lyrics.

[5] Art assets were created with help of Apple Corps, with Harmonix developers gaining access to their unique archive as well as personal photos from the shareholders.

[6] In addition to Apple Corps' material, Harmonix designers watched the eight-part The Beatles Anthology on a weekly basis for further reference on the band.

[6] The Cavern Club, Shea Stadium, Budokan, Abbey Road Studios and the rooftop of the Apple Corps Headquarters also appear as venues in the game.

[31] Twenty of the game's on-disc songs are associated with "dreamscape" sequences in conjunction with the Abbey Road venue, representing the exclusively studio-based nature of the band in their later years.

[31] The game includes heavily stylized opening and ending cinematics produced in part by Pete Candeland of Passion Pictures, with help from animator Robert Valley and background visuals from Alberto Mielgo.

Within two and a half minutes, the opening cinematic provides a brief representative history of the band interspersed with numerous references to songs by the Beatles, followed by more metaphorical scenes reflecting their studio albums.

[41] The Beatles: Rock Band was first revealed on October 30, 2008, when Harmonix, MTV Games, and Viacom announced an exclusive agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. to produce the standalone title.

for both The Beatles: Rock Band and the abandoned remake of Yellow Submarine by Disney, stated that it took six months to complete the complex agreements and paperwork over the copyrights, trademarks, and publishing issues.

[48] Footage from The Beatles: Rock Band was revealed for the first time on April 18, 2009, during Paul McCartney's performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Presented by Harmonix at the beginning of the Microsoft press conference, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr briefly took the stage to discuss the games.

Customers who pre-ordered the game from selected vendors received an access code to view exclusive images and media on the site before it was eventually made public.

[18] The advertisement was directed by Marcel Langenegger, who worked with Apple Corps and Giles Martin to build an Abbey Road set at a Hollywood studio, and to blend archival footage of the Beatles into the video.

[23] A three pack of songs from Paul McCartney's 2009 live album, Good Evening New York City, was made available for the main Rock Band series on 5 January 2010.

[76] On May 5, 2016, Harmonix ceased downloadable content distribution for The Beatles: Rock Band due to the license expiration, though those that had already purchased the tracks would be able to redownload them in the future.

[15][83][84][90] Critics were mostly positive concerning the visual and aural elements of the game;[89][94] G4's Abbie Heppe considered it a preferable package to the newly remastered albums, citing song-specific animations as a strong feature.

[90] Heppe observed that the color saturation of the background elements as well as the "Beatlemania" visual effects can sometimes contrast poorly with the scrolling notes, making it difficult to play.

[89][95] For purist fans, some critics noted that the game purposely avoids certain aspects of the Beatles' history; former band members such as Pete Best or collaborators such as Billy Preston or Eric Clapton are never seen during gameplay.

[93] Concerning supplemental content, Hilary Goldstein of IGN felt the extra features could have been more substantial, especially in comparison to the additional material that accompanies the remastered CDs.

[113] The second half of the video, where traditional animation gives way to a combination of computer-aided 2D and 3D scenery has been described as "a mashup of Peter Max and the Unreal Engine... chaperoned by the ghost of Salvador Dalí" by the ECA's GameCulture blog.

[115] According to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, one quarter of The Beatles: Rock Band inventory was sold during its first week of release, exceeding their expectations.