Andy Warhol shot the film at 24 frames per second, but screened it at 16 frames per second. Thus, although only six hours and 40 minutes of film was shot, the film is 8 hours and 5 minutes when screened.
When asked why he wanted to make such an odd experimental film, Andy Warhol simply replied "To see time go by".
Callie Angell, director of the Whitney's 'Warhol Film Project' said in 'New York Magazine' that the film doesn't only show the Empire State Building, but the creators of the film themselves: "[Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas] were shooting it from the office of the Rockefeller Foundation in the Time-Life building, and when they changed the reels they'd turn the lights on. In three reels, they started before they turned the lights back off, so you can see a reflection of Warhol and Mekas in the window. No one had ever mentioned that before. Probably no one ever had sat through the whole thing."[Nov. 22, 2004]
Filmed 25-26 July 1964, from 8:06 pm to 2:42 am, at the offices of the Rockefeller Foundation on the 41st floor of the Time-Life Building, 16 blocks from the Empire State Building.
This is the longest film to be preserved at the National Film Registry.