Update (9/25/2018)

Newer versions of AngularJS (>= 1.3.0) allow you to do this with only a variable (no function needed):

<li ng-repeat="x in [].constructor(number) track by $index">
    <span>{{ $index+1 }}</span>
</li>

$scope.number = 5;

This was not possible at the time the question was first asked. Credit to @Nikhil Nambiar from his answer below for this update

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Original (5/29/2013)

At the moment, ng-repeat only accepts a collection as a parameter, but you could do this:

<li ng-repeat="i in getNumber(number)">
    <span>{{ $index+1 }}</span>
</li>

And somewhere in your controller:

$scope.number = 5;
$scope.getNumber = function(num) {
    return new Array(num);   
}

This would allow you to change $scope.number to any number as you please and still maintain the binding you’re looking for.

EDIT (1/6/2014) — Newer versions of AngularJS (>= 1.1.5) require track by $index:

<li ng-repeat="i in getNumber(number) track by $index">
    <span>{{ $index+1 }}</span>
</li>

Here is a fiddle with a couple of lists using the same getNumber function.