Opening celebration of Atlantis Palm Jumeirah creates new landmarks in Dubai

Notes and media contacts

Thursday 20th November event:

The event, created as a launch of a landmark for the country of Dubai (Palm Jumeirah) and the official opening of its flagship resort (Atlantis, The Palm), was designed by top celebrity party planner Colin Cowie. A 21 metre blue-finned, sea dragon covered in 3,000 purple scales snaked through the crowd as it served hors d'oeuvres and refreshments, from three buffets built in to its body. The event pageantry included 113 live actors and dancers, 200 dinner tables lit by 3,000 candles and 208 lanterns.

The resort's beach was covered in 7,200 square metres of carpet and transformed in to a glittering peacock-hued soiree with 15,000 burgundy carnations, 700 Monstera leaves and 100 cans of glitter. Traditional Middle Eastern cuisine such as baba ghanoush, tabouleh, saffron marinated chicken and lamb kofta, was served alongside signature dishes prepared by the resort's Michelin-starred chefs. Guests wore custom-designed blue and gold hand-made Taj Taj bracelets for entry.

The Illumination:

The visual illumination show was broadcast in 5.1 Surround Sound and transmitted by 32 projectors, producing 660,000 lumens, the equivalent of almost 500 100-watt light bulbs.

The Fireworks:

The fireworks display designed and executed by Grucci, featured some shells bursting at an altitude of 274 metres and visible from space. The pyrotechnics production utilized 79 kilometres of cable, which had been stretched across the 520 kilometres of Palm Jumeirah by a team of 75 people, over 14 days prior to the event. Half of the fireworks utilized from 716 firing locations were custom-made palm tree-shaped bursts. The largest aerial shell rose 300 meters before its flowery burst spanned more than 200 meters in length and was equivalent in size to two football fields. In true Kerzner tradition, the lost city of Atlantis arose from the Arabian Gulf in a water and light spectacle. Illuminated water cascaded down the 103-metre-tall towers of Atlantis before it was extinguished by a fireworks wall set off from 400 balconies, starting at the top of the hotel and quickly spreading to all 22 floors. The night's pyrotechnics, which also illuminated Atlantis and Palm Jumeirah in red, white and green in homage to Atlantis' newest home, the United Arab Emirates, were shipped in from China, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and the United States. More than 100,000 specially-designed pyrotechnic devices were fired in less than nine minutes during the multi-luminous pageant.

About Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai:

Atlantis, The Palm is a 1,539 room, ocean-themed destination resort located at the centre of the crescent of the man-made Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. This $1.5bn joint venture project was developed with Dubai Government owned, Nakheel. Opened in September 2008, the resort utilises the 46 hectare site with 17 hectares of water park amusement, further marine and entertainment attractions and a collection of some of the most renowned world-class chefs including Nobu, Giorgio Locatelli, Santi Santamaria and Michel Rostang. Atlantis, The Palm offers an unprecedented entertainment centre, an impressive collection of luxury boutiques and shops and extensive meeting and convention facilities. It is home to one of the largest open-air marine habitats in the world, with some 65,000 marine animals in lagoons and displays including The Lost Chambers, a maze of underwater corridors and passageways providing a journey through ancient Atlantis. If you are new user to this site, please complete the online registration to be granted access to the online newsroom.

Kerzner International Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, is a leading international developer and operator of destination resorts, casinos and luxury hotels. Kerzner's flagship brand is Atlantis, which includes Atlantis, Paradise Island, a 3,400-room ocean-themed destination resort in The Bahamas. Kerzner has also commenced construction of a 600-room, destination casino resort in Morocco that will open in 2009. Kerzner also manages five of the top-rated luxury resort properties in the world under the One&Only brand located in The Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritius, the Maldives and Dubai. One&Only Cape Town is scheduled to open in May in South Africa.

About Nakheel:

Nakheel is one of the world's largest privately held real estate developers, and a key player in realising the vision of Dubai for the 21st century: creating a world class destination for living, business and tourism.

Nakheel is developing an iconic portfolio of innovative landmark projects in Dubai, and now in key markets around the globe, across a range of sectors - residential, commercial, hotels, retail, and leisure. Nakheel's projects are conservatively estimated to be worth US$80 billion. Upon completion, Nakheel's waterfront projects will have added more than 1,000km of shoreline to Dubai's coastline.

Nakheel's Dubai portfolio includes Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Deira, The World, Waterfront, The Universe, Nakheel Harbour & Tower, Jumeirah Islands, Jumeirah Village, Jumeirah Park, Jumeirah Heights, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens, Ibn Battuta Mall, Al Furjan, International City and Dragon Mart.

Nakheel is a key entity within Dubai World. Dubai World is one of the world's largest holding companies and supervises a portfolio of businesses and projects for the Dubai Government across five continents and more than 100 countries.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Atlantis, The Palm Media Centre
Tel: +97144261605

Rebecca Leach / Margaret Flanagan
Nakheel
Tel: +971559853377/78

Ashfana Abdul Hameed
d'pr
Tel: +971503782723