Watch: David Blaine uses balloons to fly nearly 25,000 feet over Arizona

Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Illusionist and daredevil David Blaine took hold of about 50 balloons and went for an hour's flight over the Arizona desert.

Blaine, 47, live-streamed a video on his official YouTube account chronicling the unusual stunt, which he dubbed "Ascension."

"Every single stunt that I've ever done is about endurance and pushing past what I thought would be possible," Blaine said before the performance. "I can't imagine that many people would dream of doing it."

Blaine lifted off Wednesday morning with an aim of making it to an altitude of 18,000 feet, but he ended up reaching 24,900 feet -- nearly 5 miles into the air -- before parachuting back to solid ground.

The performer said after safely landing that the stunt was "awesome."