Each scene begins with the ball following ramps and hitting some bumpers; then various features belonging to a theme specific to the number, often including humanoid or animal figures, appear.
The number-specific middle sections contain one of three different improvised instrumental solos over a basic progression, featuring steel drums (numbers 2, 4, 9 and 12) electric guitar (3, 8 and 11) and soprano saxophone (5, 6, 7 and 10).
Consistent with an abbreviated jazz structure, a prearranged head and turnaround / coda are played during the common starting and ending animation sequences.
The vocals work in similar fashion with the featured numeral spoken, sung and shouted during the middle section and a return to the arranged counting at the end.
The song employs complex rhythms, changing time signatures frequently between 44, 34 and 54 during the opening and closing segments, around a rhythmically straightforward 44 middle improvisation section.
[2] Animation for the segments was directed by Jeff Hale and recalls contemporary psychedelic and pop art styles, typified by the ornate pinball bumpers, colorful geometrical motifs and whimsical themes and devices inside the machine.
The ball finds its way through carnival and amusement park-themed obstacles—riding a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, and some little hanging airplanes until being dropped into a giant clown head's mouth that leads to a haunted house ride.
It then gets rejected by a Kinderdijk windmill, runs over a constable police officer and enters a sentry box which causes two guards in bearskin caps to pop out of their holes.
Solo: Electric Guitar The ball rolls down a ramp and encounters some baseball players, runs over a hot-dog vendor, and is chased under the bleachers and dropped into the hole by a dog.
Solo: Saxophone Many jungle animals pass the ball around, including a monkey, an elephant, a giraffe, a jaguar, a rhinoceros, a zebra, a lion, a pink bunny, a tiger and a giant sized gorilla that flicks it into the hole.
Solo: Electric Guitar The ball goes sightseeing through American landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, a Sequoia, the Golden Gate Bridge and a San Francisco Trolley, which drops it into the hole.
One such version, done with the cooperation of Sesame Workshop,[3] was released under the DJ Food name by Ninja Tune Records on a 12" EP [4] and the Zen TV DVD.
The vocal rhythm is referenced in the film Half Nelson, where Ryan Gosling's character Dan Dunne mumbles the numbers in the same fashion.