In addition to the steel drum work of Molineaux, the recording features Wayne Shorter on "Elegant People" (also written by Shorter). "Mysterious Mountain" was written by Allan Hovaness, and features orchestration from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Other covers include The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps". The title track is a play on the David Rose song "Holiday for Strings". "Holiday for Pans" also includes three Pastorius originals: "Good Morning Anya", "City of Angels", and "Birth of Island". "Holiday for Pans" was intended as a follow-up to Pastorius' 1981 Warner Bros. release "Word of Mouth". However, "Word of Mouth" garnered lukewarm sales, cooling his relationship with the company. In addition, Pastorius' behavior became increasingly erratic as the 1980s moved forward, due to a combination of the musician's undiagnosed bipolar disorder and a growing substance abuse problem. His actions began to concern those who worked for Warner Bros., concert promoters, as well as the musicians with whom he performed. Ricky Schultz, one of the record executives responsible for signing Jaco to Warner Bros., stated that the label was "expecting something more in the commercial fusion genre, like "Return to Forever" or something along the lines of Weather Report's "Mr. Gone". But "Holiday for Pans" was extremely esoteric — it was basically a vehicle for Othello Molineaux that Jaco had produced. It wasn't very well received by the powers at the label." To recoup their losses on the project, Warner Bros. instead released "Invitation" in 1983, a live album composed primarily of cover songs. During a May 1983 interview for "Guitar World", a scattered Pastorius mentioned his excitement over the project: "I have a record you will not believe: "Holiday for Pans", which I adapted from David Rose's "Holiday for Strings" and arranged for Othello Molineaux, the steel drum player who's with me on "Word of Mouth"." In the same interview, he made the dubious claim that he had funded the recordings himself, stating, "...I have about twenty-four master tapes that I paid for myself." Following the rejection by Warner Bros., the "Holiday for Pans" project laid dormant for approximately four years. For some period of time, the master tapes were stranded in a friend's van, which had been impounded in a New Jersey tow-yard.