Dubai Fireworks 2014 Include 400,000 Pyrotechnics, Set Guinness World Record

Dubai fireworks that rang in 2014 sent more than 400,000 pyrotechnics over 400 different parts of the nation’s shoreline, earning a place in the Guinness World Records for the largest display ever.

The fireworks in Dubai stretched out across 62 miles of waterfront, an apt celebration for a city obsessed with always being the biggest. Part of the fireworks display that kicked of 2014 in Dubai went off in front of Burj Khalifa, which at 2,722 feet is the tallest building in the world.

The Dubai fireworks crushed the previous world record, which were set in Kuwait last year when the country set off 77,000 fireworks over the course of an hour.

The setup for the Dubai fireworks 2014 took more than 200 explosives experts who worked a total of 5,000 hours to ensure that the display was perfect. It even attracted the president of Guinness World Records to make a trip from London to see it personally.

“The scale of this record attempt is truly impressive and will ensure all eyes are on Dubai,” Alistair Richards, Global President of Guinness World Records, said.

Dubai is far from the only city to kick off 2014 with a huge display. In London, the fireworks were mixed with confetti that needs no cleanup.

“We developed a special confetti that’s actually biodegradable, and in the rain it will magically dissolve,” said food artists Harry Parr, who developed the confetti. “Even better, it tastes amazing.”

In Las Vegas, close to 335,000 people turned out for the largest fireworks display in the United States. The city also offered sold-out concerts from big-ticket acts like Bruno Mars, John Legend, and Maroon 5, and the Minus5 Ice Bar Mandalay Bay offered free champagne for hourly toasts starting at 11 am.

But the biggest show remained the Dubai fireworks to celebrate 2014. The show lasted 30 minutes it total, capped off with six minutes of colorful blasts that completely covered the city’s man-made island. The other fireworks were made to form a flying falcon, a sunrise, and even the likeness of the United Arab Emirates flag.