1. A computer program product in a recordable-type computer readable medium for processing instructions comprising: first instructions responsive to receiving an instruction at a processor in the data processing system, determining whether an indicator is associated with the instruction, wherein the indicator identifies the instruction as one that is to be monitored by a performance monitor unit; second instructions for enabling counting, by the processor, of each first event associated with a primary metric of the execution of the instruction if the indicator is associated with the instruction, wherein the processor autonomically increments the count of the first events associated with the primary metric of the execution of the instruction in a first hardware counter; third instructions for determining if the count of the first events associated with the primary metric of the execution of the instruction stored in the first hardware counter satisfies a predetermined relationship with a threshold value; and fourth instructions for enabling counting, by the processor, of each second event associated with a secondary metric of the execution of a portion of code associated with the instruction, wherein the processor autonomically increments the count of the second events associated with the secondary metric of the execution of a portion of code associated with the instruction in a second hardware counter.