Dubai inaugurated Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, with a spectacular display of sound, light, water and fireworks on Monday.
Burj Dubai, a development of Emaar properties, stands at more than 800 meters (2,625 ft) high with 160 storeys, making it the tallest man-made structure ever built.
"This is not just a building that's a little bit bigger than other buildings. It's much bigger," Christian Koch, Director of International Studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai told The Media Line. "Everybody will know about it. This is certainly going to represent the status of Dubai and the Arab Gulf as a whole for many years."
Dubai's government has been focusing its efforts on several grandiose construction initiatives, aiming to diversify the emirates' oil-based economy towards real estate, services and tourism. It is hoped a project like Burj Dubai will help attract international attention and in turn, investment.
Construction of the Burj Dubai began in September 2004 and was completed in October at a cost of around $4.1 billion.
The tower breaks several world records, including the tallest skyscraper to the top of the spire, the tallest structure and the building with the most floors, a record that was previously held by the two World Trade Center buildings which had 110 floors each. It will also be the world's tallest structure to include residential space.
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