Okay, according to YouTube, this ad has been around for quite some time, but what with me living under a rock and all, I’m only hip to it as of about five minutes ago. Anyway, an engineer at work sent it around with some information about its production, which—if true—is what elevates it from merely cool to ZOMG.

According to my esteemed co-worker (and perhaps a bit of canned e-mail forwardese):

There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in these images. Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it. The recording required 606 takes, and in the first 605 takes there was always something, usually of minor importance, that didn’t work. It was necessary for the recording team to install the set-up time after time, and it took several weeks working day and night to achieve this effect. The recording cost 6 million dollars and it took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence.

There are only six Honda Accords built by hand in the whole world, and to the horror of Honda engineers, the recording team disassembled two of them for the recording. Everything you see in the sequence (besides the walls, floor, ramp and untouched Honda Accord) is part of those two automobiles. The voice is that of Garrison Keiller.