We consider the approach to gravity in which four-dimensional curved spacetime is represented by a surface in a flat Minkowski space of higher dimension. After a short overview of the ideas and results of such an approach we concentrate on the study of the so-called splitting gravity, a form of this description in which constant value surface of a set of scalar fields in the ambient flat space-time defines the embedded surface. We construct a form of action which is invariant w.r.t. all symmetries of this theory. We construct the canonical formalism for splitting gravity. The resulting theory turns out to be free of constraints. However, the Hamiltonian of this theory is an implicit function of canonical variables. Finally, we discuss the path integral quantization of such a theory.