McCoy and Mars performed the song live on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

The song was re-recorded by Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte; her version outperformed the original single reaching number three on the Billboard Brazil Hot 100 Airplay chart.

During the summer of 2009, the Smeezingtons, consisting of Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, were booked for a week of writing sessions for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and Travie McCoy.

[1] The first song the team worked on and recorded with McCoy was "One at a Time", released as a charity single for MTV's Staying Alive Foundation.

[2] Mars and Lawrence usually hummed melodies, while Aaron Bay-Schuck, former Atlantic Records A&R rep,[3] encouraged them to develop the best of those, such as "Nothin' on You" and "Billionaire".

In the beginning, they had only "scratch chorus demos of "Nothin' On You" and "Billionaire", with a guitar on the backing track and Mars singing on top of it.

[5][6] Mars also claimed that his own finances inspired him to write the track, "I wouldn’t have to worry about, you know, I can’t afford to get breakfast, so I’ll wait until lunchtime to eat".

[8] McCoy intended to avoid "superficial" lyrics in the song in the wake of an economic recession, and added, "There's something to sing about here; if I was in the position to have a ridiculous amount of money, would I be selfish or selfless?'

[10] Mars was not supposed to feature on the hook of "Billionaire", however, his "charisma" when he sang it prompted the label and McCoy to keep his vocal after the final version was recorded.

In the suit, Proctor accused McCoy and Mars of "willful and intentional" infringement of copyright, and sought the destruction of all copies of the recording.

[14] On July 23, 2010, Fueled By Ramen released the Billionaire – EP that featured the single, "Bad All By Myself" as a bonus track alongside "Superbad (11:34)".

[16] On September 3, 2010, the CD single version with "Billionaire" and the bonus track, "Bad All By Myself", was released in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland by Fueled By Ramen and DecayDance.

[17] On September 21, 2010, Fueled By Ramen released a deluxe single edition for digital download which contained "Billionaire", an acoustic version of the song, and the music video for it.

[21] MTV News' Tamar Anitai thought the song gave her a Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and Shwayze's "Corona and Lime" (2008) summer vibe.

[29] Lyrically, the chorus of the song is materialistic, money-driven—"I wanna be a billionaire so fucking bad"—with amusing and political verses counterbalancing it.

He fantasizes about success, helping after Hurricane Katrina, having a show like Oprah Winfrey, meeting The Queen and adopting unfortunate children.

[32][28][21] Sharyar Rizvi of the Dallas Observer compared the lyrics of "Billionaire" to those of Nas' "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (1996) and Barenaked Ladies' "If I Had $1000000" (1992).

Nick Levine of Digital Spy rated the song four out of five stars, dubbing it a "summer pop treat so sweet and tasty it's even possible to forgive McCoy's slightly irritating change of billing".

[16] James Montgomery of MTV News enjoyed the track, commenting that it "is perfect for the sunshine" and raises spirits to become a "summertime smash".

[28] In a mixed review, Billboard's Melanie Bertoldi awarded it three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that the song's lyrics "may be inconsistent, but the beat still goes down smoothly".

[32] Rodrigo Perez of MTV News praised the song's instrumentation but criticized its lyrics, calling them a "laundry list of wishes".

[21] The New York Times's Jon Caramanica said the song has a "moody underbelly", complementing its "stirring hook", also noting that McCoy takes a "quick potshot" at his ex Katy Perry in one of the verses.

[25][68] Robbie Daw of Idolator opined that if the song was a hit perhaps they could "wear bird suits with Miley Cyrus" on her "Can't Be Tamed" clip.

[24] MTV News's James Montgomery dubbed the video as a "fantasy ride in which McCoy helps out", calling it a "lighthearted romp".

[26] "Billionaire" was first performed live by McCoy and Mars, wearing suits, on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show on June 15, 2010,[69] and later that month on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

[80][81][82] "Billionaire" was used as the introduction to Mars's performance on the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show in 2014, sung by a children's choir.

[90] In 2011, Only Won released a "Geeked out" remix video, titled I Wanna Be An Engineer, which was a parody that reached viral status and caught the attention of CNN, the Discovery Channel, and Intel.

[93] Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte recorded a version of the song titled "Famosa" (English: Famous) featuring McCoy.

It features footage of McCoy from the original "Billionaire" music video interpolated with scenes of Leitte portraying a character who must choose between fame and love.

The famous Oscar Freire street, known to contain numerous sophisticated stores frequented by artists and millionaires, is heavily featured.