I remember reading some time ago a different perspective on that scene: Superman was going so fast that he was time-traveling.
Unfortunately, the angle they chose made it look like Superman was physically making the Earth go backwards, and THAT was causing time to reverse (which is ridiculous, and would cause a rather horrific cataclysm).
Superman 2 is a far superior film. An example of how a better director (Richard Lester) can take existing material filmed by someone else, add his own and make something personal.