It was written by band members Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass for their debut studio album Mutual Friends (2011), while production was helmed by Philipp Steinke.

A folkish indie pop song, the uptempo track is built almost entirely on drums and piano.

Lyrically, "Little Numbers" depicts its protagonist waiting for a call from their love interest, while killing time by daydreaming.

The song gained significant popularity in German-speaking Europe after being featured in German airline Lufthansa's Business Class commercial in mid-2012.

It also served as the theme song for the German comedy film No Sex Is No Option [de] (2011) as well as the television comedy series Knallerfrauen, and was also featured in the American film How to Be Single (2016).