A compressed video made of footage from a surveillance camera showing a man who got trapped in an elevator for over 40 hours back in 1999 emerged online and became an instant hit on video sharing website YouTube, with over 680,000 views and counting.

Nicholas White, who was a production manager for Business Week magazine at the time, decided to take a cigarette break while working late ahead of an October 1999 weekend deadline on a Friday night.

He rode down from the 43rd floor of the deserted McGraw-Hill Building in Rockefeller Center, had his smoke, then got in an elevator to go back upstairs.

What followed next is probably one of the biggest nightmares anyone could possibly have, White's elevator got stuck somewhere in between the 13th and 14th  floor.

"After a certain period of time I knew that I was in pretty big trouble because it was the weekend," White said on Monday's "Good Morning America" airing on ABC.

Classified by media outlets reporting the story as an "Internet sensation," the 3-minute video is a time-lapse of the horrifying 41 hours White helplessly spent pacing inside the elevator before he was rescued late on that weekend's Sunday afternoon.

With no watch, cell phone, food or water, White's sole sustenance was a pack of Rolaids.

"Rolaids aren't a very good meal," White said, adding that the most difficult part was overcoming his thirst and fear he might die of dehydration.

Recalling the incident, White's only idea of signaling he was trapped was to open the elevator's door enough so he could urinate, "I hoped that might be a signal to people in fact: 'why is the elevator leaking?'"

All his screams for help and emergency bell rings remained unreturned.

Relieved to see the elevator doors opening as he was being rescued, White said he found out his colleagues believed he skipped work and left, and even found a note about all the problems that occurred while he was away.

And despite his tormenting experience, White, who was offered a deal from the building, revealed that he is still taking the elevator.