The 'No Time to Die' song secretly features an Easter Egg: the famous classic opening Bond sting from the many Bond theme songs. Singer Billie Eilish confirmed this Easter Egg in the track in the music episode of the 'No Time to Die' Official Podcast. She said: "You can't do a Bond song without it sounding like a Bond song. If you listen closely, you can hear [the Bond sting] in the second verse. It's very subtle and it's very echoed. We decided to do that though." Her brother and the song's producer Finneas O'Connell said: "It was recorded in London, and then like there was a version without [the Bond sting]. Then, we were like, put it back in, it's great.'' (A "sting" is a trademark set of notes. For this theme song, the four notes occur just after the second verse begins.)
The music composer of 'No Time to Die' (2021), Hans Zimmer, served as executive music producer on EON Productions' previous picture 'The Rhythm Section' (2020) which was scored by his friend and colleague Steve Mazzaro who is the score producer of 'No Time to Die' (2021).
For 'No Time to Die', composer Hans Zimmer took inspiration from the music composed for the theatrical trailer of the previous Bond film 'Spectre' (2015), not only by taking a similar approach to the James Bond theme for various action sequences, but also by incorporating the main theme from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969).
The 'No Time to Die' song sung by Billie Eilish broke the record for the biggest ever opening week for a James Bond theme/title song in the UK. The track sold about 90,000 copies in its first week of seven days in release and also had 10.6 million streams in the same, racing to the UK No. #1 spot on the pop charts. Previously, Sam Smith's theme song from 'Spectre' (2015), entitled 'Writing's On The Wall', previously held the record, selling almost 70,000 copies when it debuted in late 2015, also hitting the UK No. #1 spot on the music single charts. Adele's title song for 'Skyfall' (2012) sold about 84,000 copies when it debuted in late 2012 which at the time made it to the UK No. #2 rank on the UK top of the pops chart.
For the 'No Time to Die' music score, composer Hans Zimmer replaced director Cary Joji Fukunaga's regular music composer Dan Romer during late 2019 due to creative differences. According to show-business trade paper 'Variety', this picture "marks the first time in the 58-year history of Bond films that a composer has been replaced during post-production".