Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn. The tracks were re-arranged parts of the film music composed and conducted by Henry Mancini. At the 1962 Academy Awards, Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer won Oscars for Best Original Song for "Moon River", while Mancini picked up a second statue for Best Original Score. The album also stayed on Billboard's album charts for over ninety weeks.

Because of his success with title themes, such as the theme to the television show Peter Gunn, Henry Mancini was asked by director Blake Edwards to compose the soundtrack to Breakfast at Tiffany's, a symphony jazz soundtrack. A protégé of jazz musician Glenn Miller, he created the Academy Award-winning score for The Glenn Miller Story. After a preview screening of the film an executive from Paramount Pictures was convinced that the song "Moon River" was dead weight and it was due to be cut. Upon learning this, Hepburn responded, "Over my dead body." This response was likely due to the friendly relationship that she had with Mancini. Subsequent to the insistence that the song stay in the film it was not cut and went on to be a hit.

Henry Nicola Mancini (born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

His works include the theme and soundtrack for the Peter Gunn television series as well as the music for The Pink Panther film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Music from Peter Gunn won the inaugural Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Mancini enjoyed a long collaboration composing film scores for the film director Blake Edwards. Mancini also scored a No. 1 hit single during the rock era on the Hot 100: his arrangement and recording of the "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" spent two weeks at the top, starting with the week ending June 28, 1969.

Mancini died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on June 14, 1994. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria, which he never saw on stage. Mancini was survived by his wife of 47 years, singer Virginia "Ginny" O'Connor, with whom he had three children. She died on October 25, 2021, at age 97.

They had met while both were members of the Tex Beneke orchestra, just after World War II. In 1948, Mrs. Mancini was one of the founders of the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide.

One of Mancini's twin daughters, Monica Mancini, is a professional singer; her sister Felice runs The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (MHOF). His son Christopher is a music publisher and promoter in Los Angeles.

Henry Mancini created a scholarship at UCLA and some of his library and works are archived in the music library at UCLA, with additional materials preserved at the Library of Congress.

In 1996, the Henry Mancini Institute, an academy for young music professionals, was founded by Jack Elliott in Mancini's honor, and was later under the direction of composer-conductor Patrick Williams. By the mid-2000s, however, the institute could not sustain itself and closed its doors on December 30, 2006. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.

In 2005, the Henry Mancini Arts Academy was opened as a division of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. The center is located in Midland, Pennsylvania, minutes away from Mancini's hometown of Aliquippa. The Henry Mancini Arts Academy is an evening-and-weekend performing arts program for children from pre-K to grade 12, with some classes also available for adults. The program includes dance, voice, musical theater, and instrumental lessons.

The American Film Institute ranked Mancini's songs "Moon River" No. 4 and "Days of Wine and Roses" No. 39 on their 100 Years...100 Songs list, and his score for The Pink Panther No. 20 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), Hatari! (1962), Touch of Evil (1958) and Wait Until Dark (1967) were also nominated for the list.