Helped by a video promoting the song on MTV, "I'm Still Standing" became a big hit for John on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at No.

[7] Although "I'm Still Standing" is often seen as a statement of John's resilience, Taupin wrote the lyrics with a specific person in mind.

"[8][9]The music video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was shot in Cannes and Nice on the Côte d'Azur in France.

Arlene Phillips, who choreographed the routines performed on location in the video, said her work is one of the proudest moments in her entire career (via the Channel 5 pop-documentary, Britain's Favourite 80s Songs, on 25 December 2021).

Initially, John was supposed to take part in the choreography for the music video, but that plan was later scrapped as he recalls in his autobiography: Visibly stunned by my demonstration of the moves I’d honed on the dance floors of Crisco Disco and Studio 54, the choreographer Arlene Phillips went pale and suddenly scaled down my involvement in that side of things, until all I really had to do was click my fingers and walk along the seafront in time to the music.

[12]The next morning, John awoke with a hangover and wandered into his personal assistant's room – which was "leveled" – and asked him "What happened?"

"[11] In 2019, the original 16mm film negatives were re-scanned and the computer graphics were recreated, forming a newer remastered version of the promotional video.

The first time was for the 2016 animated feature Sing as teenage gorilla Johnny; the second was for the 2019 biopic Rocketman where he played the titular role of Elton John himself.