New Years Eve in Dubai - Burj Khalifa 2011

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Times Square may be where it’s at for New Year’s revelers in the United States, but the Middle Eastern party in Dubai reached new heights.

The developer of the world’s tallest building—the 2,716.5-foot-high Burj Khalifa—hosted a laser lights and fireworks show to ring in 2011. The spectacle was billed as “the world’s highest fireworks.”

A crowd of nearly 500,000 people witnessed the New Year’s Eve festivities in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates. Around the world, a TV audience estimated at 2 billion watched the show live.

Gulfnews.com reported that members of the crowd “let out an involuntary gasp as the jaw-dropping fireworks” lit up the world’s tallest building. The Burj Khalifa stands more than 160 stories high; the tower is taller than at least Empire State Buildings.

Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of the building’s developer, Emaar Properties, said the New Year’s Eve party at Burj Khalifa “has positioned Dubai as the must-visit destination to celebrate new beginnings.”

Alabbar said the show was “one of the finest spectacles anywhere in the world.” In coming years, he said, “Dubai will be the place visitors from across the world will choose to celebrate the New Year.”

Dubai’s $1.5 billion skyscraper opened in January 2010.

“More than just the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa is an unprecedented example of international cooperation, symbolic beacon of progress, and an emblem of the new, dynamic and prosperous Middle East,” the building’s developer says.

The building is named for Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates. Burj Khalifa anchors a 500-acre mixed-use development.

Construction on the tower started in 2004.

At 1,667 feet, Taipei 101 in Taiwan is the world’s second tallest building. The 1,451-foot-high Willis Tower in Chicago is the tallest building in the United States.

In March 2010, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certified Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest building.

About 20 years ago, “the world of tall buildings” was dominated by North America, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Eighty percent of the world’s 100 tallest buildings and nine of the 10 tallest buildings were in North America in 1990, the council says. Now, 35 percent of the world’s 100 tallest buildings and two of the 10 tallest buildings are in North America.