Morton Gould's first composition was published when he was six years old. He attended the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) and found work in the vaudeville and movie theaters in New York City during the Depression. He was the staff pianist at Radio City Music Hall when it first opened, but he finally gained national prominence through his work on the radio.

Gould composed Broadway scores (Billion Dollar Baby, Arms and The Girls), film music (Delightfully Dangerous, Cinerama Holiday, Windjammer) music for television (Holocaust and the CBS war documentary World War I); and ballet scores (Interplay, Fall River Legend, I'm Old Fashioned). As a conductor, he has led all the major American orchestras. He won a Grammy Award in 1966 and the American Symphony Orchestra League's 1983 Gold Baton Award.