The chimney, part of the former Milburn Cement Works, had stood at the site beside what is now Dunedin's Southern Motorway for nearly 80 years, and did not go without a fight.
Although steel reinforcing was cut to weaken the chimney base and control the direction of its fall, it took two attempts to bring the chimney down using explosives.
An initial blast, using 10kg of Powergel explosive around the chimney's 15m base at 8am, had little effect.
Demolition staff cautiously approached and found while the first blast had damaged the concrete exterior, the chimney's brick lining was intact, Blackhead Quarry blasting and drilling manager Paul Mollart said.
"The original plan did not go according to plan.
"The weight of the concrete should have dragged the brick lining over, but a clay layer in-between absorbed a lot of energy from the blast.
"The concrete completely shattered with minimal damage to the bricks."
Staff, aware the wind was rising, devised a contingency plan and fired a second charge at 10.20am to access the brick lining.
About 3kg of charges were placed against the brick lining and "over she went", at 12.45pm, Mr Mollart said.
He would review footage of the demolition and contact the Australian consultant who designed the blasting plan to see why the job was "a bit of a learning curve".
A crowd of about 100 people who gathered to watch the demolition from Green Island at 8am left shortly after.
About 20 people returned later and cheered with delight when the chimney finally fell at 12.45pm.
Site owner Steve Ross, of Dunedin, said the clean-up of 600 tonnes-800 tonnes of spoil from the fallen chimney would begin this week.
The rubble would be crushed for use in roading.
