The anilide compound named (Z)-4-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)amino)-4-oxobut-2-enoic acid (MAOA) has been synthesized by the chemical reaction of 2-methoxy-4-nitroaniline and maleic anhydride in ethyl acetate. The synthesized compound was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy, and TGA/DSC technique. Furthermore, the crystal structure was analyzed by the single crystal X-ray diffraction (SC XRD) technique. The supramolecular assembly of MAOA in terms of non-covalent interactions was explored by Hirshfeld surface analysis. Void analysis inferred that MAOA is expected to have good mechanical properties. The crystal packing environment was further investigated by interaction energy between molecular pairs and energy frameworks. Moreover, the result of the gas-phase DFT study showed that there is an intramolecular N–H···O and O–H···O hydrogen bond in MAOA due to the distance between D and A being smaller than the sum of their van der Waals radii. The result of the QTAIM study showed that there should also be an intramolecular CH···O hydrogen bond with a strength of 3.40 kcal/mol in MAOA.