The song was released as a promotional single issued to radio stations as an edited 45RPM EP (with stereo and mono sides) and to clubs as an extended 12-inch 32RPM record.
"Looking Out for Number One" and its B-side are two out of four songs from the Silver Dreams album, which had a track listing of nine, to have been officially released by Atlantic Records.
The two others are "Fool's Affair", which was recorded and released at the same time by Melissa Manchester in 1980, and a song was written by Branigan called "When" which appeared as the B-side to "I Found Someone" in 1985.
The seven seconds of missing audio are from the very end of the song where it fades out and is nearly inaudible when listening to the actual vinyl record.
Both the 7" and 12" versions of the Midnight mix were later included as bonus tracks on the expanded edition of Branigan, released by Gold Legion in 2014.