Frank Lampard's side needed just one point heading into Friday's Championship fixture at Blackburn, which they achieved with a 1-1 draw, thanks to Bobby Thomas' 84th-minute equaliser.
The draw at Ewood Park took the Sky Blues to 86 points, enough to guarantee them a top-two finish and automatic promotion with three games remaining.
"It was an incredible moment. This is what it's about," a tearful Lampard said in an emotional post-match interview.
"Coming here and getting a point at this stage isn't easy. We had to see it out, and we didn't know whether to attack again. Doing this after 25 years? Wow! Wow!"
The weekend could have seen Coventry crowned champions if they had won and second-placed Ipswich were to lose to Middlesbrough on Sunday. However, that will have to wait another round, at least.
Promotion is a symbolic moment for Coventry, who have endured a whirlwind recent history.
They were playing in League Two as recently as 2018 and have finally broken through the Championship ceiling after a couple of near misses.
In 2023, Coventry reached the playoff final at Wembley and agonisingly lost out in a penalty shootout to Luton.
Coventry missed the playoffs the season after, and a poor opening to the last campaign saw popular manager Mark Robins replaced with Lampard.
He took over when they were 17th and a stunning recovery saw them surge into the playoffs, but it was heartbreak again as Sunderland beat them late in the semi-finals.
But Lampard made sure there wouldn't be another disappointment, having made Coventry a force to be reckoned with in his first full season at the helm.
They have been the pace-setters for the vast majority of the season, adopting a style that has them as the Championship's leading scorers.
A brief mid-season dip in form appears to have been the only blemish on an otherwise momentous campaign.