When creating a Pivot Table in Excel 2000 I am receiving the error
message: "Microsoft Excel cannot make this change because there are
too many row or column items." In my case, it's highly unlikely that
the pivot fields I'm using go beyond the worksheet area. The data
table itself is relatively small.

I believe what is happening is the following:
If your data should fit there are three options: 
- One is to invert your rows and columns because an excel sheet is
limited to 256 columns and 65536 lines.
- The other option is, while in the Pivot Table wizard, double click
on each item and under subtotals choose "none". If all items have
subtotals on "automatic" you will double the amount of data and in
your row and column and therefore use 4 times as much space on the
spreadsheet.
- Another option is if you have excess data which does not have to be
shown you may also double click on each item while in the Pivot Table
wizard and select the items (lower part of the window) that should not
be shown. By doing this you will decreas the amount of data in you
Pivot Table.