Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is expanding for low temperature deposition of metallurgical coatings. The abundance of metalorganic compounds that can be supplied by chemists makes the design and the selection of suitably tailored metalorganic precursor a fundamental key to develop successfully an MOCVD process for the production of a desired thin film material. The stringent requirements for metalorganic precursors for deposition of metallurgical coatings are critically reviewed in this paper and discussed using typical examples on the growth of Cr-based coatings. Particular emphasis is given to the control of the metalloid incorporation in the coatings and on the employment of single-source precursors instead of separate precursors for MOCVD of multi-element material.