Incredible footage of grand opening of the Atlantis hotel in Dubai shows the entire Palm Jumeirah lit up by fireworks at the climax of the evening.
The star-studded event on Thursday was attended by A-list celebrities and royalty and is rumoured to have cost $40 million to stage.
The fireworks display was put on by the legendary Grucci family and is set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive display ever.
Philip Butler, a family member of Grucci’s of New York, said in comments published on Saturday the display itself cost $3 million, more than was spent on the display at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The fireworks were set off from 226 floating pontoons across 46 kilometres of water on the Palm fronds, from 40 locations down the 5.5-kilometre stretch of the Palm's trunk and from 400 positions on the hotel itself.
The Grucci family have previously put on displays for Olympic Games at Lake Placid, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City and have also been responsible for the fireworks at six consecutive inaugurations of US presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan.
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