According to an interview with the game's composers Teruhiko Nakagawa and Kenichi Tokoi, both actually went to Rio itself where the 2016 Olympic Games took place in order to get a Brazilian feel for the game's music. After a Brazilian percussionist commented that their music had a Cuban rhythm to it, both composers realized they "didn’t have a clue what samba is supposed to feel like." As a result, they recorded in Brazil two weeks before the annual Rio Carnival took place.

The pre-release box art for the European version did not include Donkey Kong or Amy and showed a PEGI rating of 3, while the final release was rated 7.