The tradition of grand firework displays to celebrate the New Year continues to grow across the world in part linked to the fact that, with modern media, the displays can be seen globally. It all contributes to huge optimism at the start of a new year. Is there now a competition between world cities to see who can produce the largest/most colourful/most innovative displays? The most dramatic ones showcase the iconic buildings or places of the cities; Time Square in New York, Red Square in Moscow, the Castle in Edinburgh; the Opera House in Sydney; the London Eye and Houses of Parliament in London and, now, buildings such as the Burj Khalifa (also the tallest man-made structure in the world) and Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
Following 10 months of planning, Dubai achieved the the world record for the largest fireworks display with over 500,000 fireworks set off in a display that was computer-synchronised with music, lasted for six minutes and covered a distance of 61.6 miles along the seafront and encompassing the Palm Jumeirah, World Islands, the Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab. They achieved their aim of beating the previous world which was set by Kuwait in 2012 to celebrate their 50th anniversary and, in contrast, only used 77,282 fireworks. A video of the display can be seen here.