"Karma Police" is in a 4/4 time signature and played in standard tuning.
The title lyric originates from an in-joke; the Radiohead band members would threaten to call the "karma police" if they did something bad.
Director Jonathan Glazer has mentioned that the video concept was previously presented to Marilyn Manson, who didn't liked it.
The song charted at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
The first half of the song is in the key of G major. The second half (starting with the line "For a minute there") is in B minor.