The episode's title literally comes from Billboard Magazine's practice in the 1960s and 1970s of showing songs that had moved up on its charts to a higher position with a "bullet" symbol, i.e., a large black dot. A song that was "number one with a bullet" had just reached the top of the charts; Johnny Munroe uses the expression in this sense in Part Two. Figuratively, however, because the episode deals with the potential gangland war between the Hawaiian "kumu" mob and mobsters from the Mainland, the title also suggests someone being the primary target for a killing.
The song Johnny plays for Yvonne, 'I Can't Get You Out of My Mind', was actually composed by B J Verdi and Chris Yarian.
There are strains of the Bee Gees' music here, specifically their song "Stayin' Alive".
Yvonne Elliman was married to RSO records executive Bill Oakes from 1972-80, hence she appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack produced by RSO.