Trailing by 17 points at the break after being dominated by the massive Stormers pack, the home side were in danger of suffering a heavy defeat but instead rattled the leading side in the South African conference into mistakes too mark captain Mils Muiliaina's 100th Super rugby match in style.
The Chiefs took advantage of the Stormers being reduced to 14 shortly after the resumption following the awarding of a penalty try and then ran in tries to Sitiveni Sivivatu and Liam Messam while restricting the visitors to three points to complete a remarkable turnaround.
The result seemed a far fetched idea after the Stormers had blown the Chiefs off the park in a dominant first half.
Springboks winger Gio Aplon gave the group of boisterous Stormers fans, resplendent in yellow coats, hats and with musical instruments, something to make a song and dance about with a scintillating try in the 18th minute that left four All Blacks questioning their defence.
From a scum just inside their own half the ball came to the lightweight Aplon, who tips the scales at just 76kg, on the halfway line and he proceeded to burst through a Brendon Leonard tackle before stepping past Muliaina, Sivivatu and wrong footing Stephen Donald to score a memorable try.
The Stormers were in charge and maximised the advantage their big pack gave them to peel of the metres almost at will through their rolling maul. At times they marched the Chiefs back 20 metres and the home side had no answer to it and it came as no surprise that their second try came that way after a lineout five metres from the Chiefs' line.
The ball was grabbed by giant lock Andries Bekker, shifted to Schalk Burger at the rear of the maul and the Stormers captain bided his time before flopping untouched over the line.
Down 20-3 after 25 minutes, the Chiefs were forced to chase the game, but the Stormers defence, with Burger and Bekker prominent, gave them few opportunities to narrow the gap before the break.
The match turned on its head just after the break and Richard Kahui provided the spark, breaking the Stormers' defensive line which was without Jacque Fourie after the international centre failed to appear after the interval, and then hoofing the ball downfield. He kicked again but before he had the chance to regather the ball he was held back by Aplon prompting referee Stuart Dickinson to award a penalty try and give Aplon a yellow card.
Another kick three minutes later, this time from Donald, got the Chiefs within reach when the ball turned square to befuddle Stormers fullback Conrad Jantjes and present itself to a gleeful Sivivatu who went in under the posts.
When Donald landed a penalty shortly after the Chiefs were level, but Peter Grant matched that to give the visitors the lead again before Messam, who was to the fore in the Chiefs' revival, bulldozed his way over from close to the line and Donald added the extras to complete a remarkable 24-point haul in 17 minutes.
The Stormers, weary after a taxing match against the Crusaders last week and a long flight from South Africa, were harried into mistakes by a Chiefs side who were now in the ascendancy.
A Donald penalty, before he limped off the field with a leg injury, gave the Chiefs a seven-point advantage and it proved enough to complete a stirring fightback.
