The song was developed during the band's earliest sessions in Fez, Morocco, and began with a drum beat by drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.
[1] "No Line on the Horizon" stemmed from drummer Larry Mullen Jr. experimenting with several different drum beats; producer and co-writer Brian Eno sampled and manipulated the patterns, and the rest of the band began to play over it.
[2] The guitar in "No Line on the Horizon" was developed through a Death by Audio distortion box; the idea to use it was suggested to guitarist the Edge by Ben Curtis of the Secret Machines.
[15] During the sequence, the cop, played by Saïd Taghmaoui, continues on his journey through the Spanish countryside until pulling into a small town for lunch where the next track, "Fez - Being Born", begins.
Allmusic praised the track, saying that "U2 strike that unmistakable blend of soaring, widescreen sonics and unflinching openhearted emotion that's been their trademark, turning the intimate into something hauntingly universal," also noting that it "resonate[s] deeper and longer than anything on Atomic Bomb".
[17] NME likened the song to "Vertigo" while saying "thanks to the Edge pressing the button marked 'freight train' rather than 'annoying echo' on his guitar, ["No Line on the Horizon"] throbs with a refound passion and remains peppered with new sounds and textures.
"[18] Uncut enjoyed the song, saying it "crashes in like a wave over the bows, washes of keyboards retreating to reveal a growling guitar riff retreaded from "The Fly", and one of U2's most memorably anthemic choruses.