"The Secret of NIMH: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" contains songs from the film written by Jerry Goldsmith and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, with vocal selections by Paul Williams and Sally Stevens. It was Goldsmith's first composition for an animated feature, which he admitted was such a departure from his normal work that in the end he approached the project like a live action score, employing the same kind of extended themes and structural development. What made the scoring process hard for Goldsmith was that he had to score scenes that were unfinished: "I was on the phone constantly with them. My dupe of the film was in black and white, and they'd bring their color copy over so I could see it. They were constantly adding footage, and it was constantly, 'What's going on here?' and 'What's happening here?'"