"It is really mind-blowing the size of this,"said Barrett Wissman of IMG Artists, which managed the event. "It is a show of epic proportions."
The spectacle set a new Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks display ever, dazzling crowds that packed city plazas or watched online as the shimmering light show streamed live on YouTube.com.
The celebration was ten months in the making and spanned more than 60 miles of the city's seafront, according to Guinness.
Beginning just before midnight in the emirate, technicians coordinated the launch of 500,000 fireworks using 100 computers.
Six minutes of explosions built to an artificial "sunrise" along the banks of the gulf.
The display capitalized on Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.
The soaring skyscraper lit up like a giant sparkler as thundering explosions worked their way up from the base.
Red flares burst from all sides before giving way to a kaleidoscope of glittering fireworks.
Flowering starbursts popped in the sky to the left and right, and Dubai's Palm Jumeirah - a man-made archipelago - sparkled beneath a ring of glimmering blasts.
The explosive extravaganza dwarfed the previous world record of 77,282 fireworks set in 2012 in Kuwait.
Dubai stole the spotlight from lavish displays around the world, including London's edible celebration with peach-flavored snow, banana confetti and orange-scented bubbles.
