A lot of people think the Citibank ad featuring a woman who rebuffs a marriage proposal and climbs a perilous rock tower in Utah instead (because it's "the rock I really had in mind") is faked with special effects.

It's not.



Citi really did persuade professional rock climber Katie Brown (pictured) to summit the "Ancient Art" rock formation in Utah's Moab desert, with a camera on her head, as she stands atop the tower and looks down, hundreds of feet, into the dizzying canyon beneath her feet.



The ad is almost ubiquitous on TV right now. You've probably heard its musical refrain, "Somebody left the gate open."



Citi's ad agency, Publicis in New York, agreed to tell Business Insider exactly how they created the ad, from casting the rock climber to getting a helicopter to circle around the rock for two days, waiting for that perfect moment.

First, watch the ad: