The video is inspired by the paintings of the American artist Tim Cantor (born in 1969).
The song shows influence of industrial music with heavy use of synthesizers.
Dan Reynolds' vocals are light, despite the dark lyrical content, recalling music from the 1980s.
Imagine Dragons performed the track during a first ever live commercial (for Target) during the Grammy Awards (2015).
"Shots" was performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (February 18, 2015), The Howard Stern Show (March 24, 2015), The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2015), and Today (2015).