This 12-minute display piece was one of several works Waxman wrote for a 1945 film, Humoresque, starring John Garfield as a struggling violinist. Waxman's friend Jascha Heifetz agreed to record the violin part for the soundtrack, and together he and Waxman selected familiar classical works to be adapted for violin and orchestra, with the violin parts tailor-made for Heifetz. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. would not agree to Heifetz' contract terms, and so Heifetz did not play it in the film; that job fell to Isaac Stern. Heifetz did finally recorded it in 1947, however, and this now-classic recording has never been out of print. Waxman wanted to arrange the Fantasy as a trumpet solo for Manny Klein, but never completed this version. When producer Friedemann Engelbrecht was producing a recording with trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov he asked Aleksandr Markovich to finish Waxman's sketches; the success of that recording has led to the work becoming a trumpet favorite, which in turn has stimulated new interest in the violin original. The Carmen Fantasy is based on themes from Georges Bizet's famous opera, Carmen, and is among the most brilliant of the many existing adaptations of this favorite.

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