I think we've all been there and started throwing out crazy z-index values at one point or another, usually out of frustration. The only real solution is to keep this stuff under control from the start and always use exactly the z-index you need.
Ahaha totally. I can just imagine the hilarious scene where a poor dev just breaks after a solid 45 minutues of trying to get that god-forsaken div to overlap another and gets to his feet, punchs down the 9 key for a whole 3 seconds screaming a 3-syllable combination of rage-soaked curses ("cock-sucking cunt" comes to mind), finally collapsing back into his seat on the last; too pissed to even bother hitting Ctrl+R to see if it had worked, typing 'git add . && git commit -m "fuck everything." ' before going home.