Mickey Mouse Works was produced to recreate the golden age of Disney's animated shorts featuring Disney's most popular characters and Mickey Mouse's first revival series. By using basic colors and the original sound effects, effort was put forth to capture the look and feel of "classic" Disney.

Each half-hour episode consisted of a variety of cartoons, varying in length from ninety seconds to twelve minutes. These shorts fell into three general types: 90-second gag cartoons, the 7 and a half-minute character cartoons, and 12-minute "Mouse Tales" based on famous stories. The character-based segments also included "Silly Symphonies", carrying on the tradition of that series of theatrical shorts.