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Tallest building in the world hosts giant fireworks show

The tallest building in the world had a big new year.

The Burj Khalifa, the soaring 2,716-foot tower in Dubai, started 2013 with a massive sound and light show that seemed to turn the high-rise into a giant fireworks display.

A video, which captured the attention of the Web, shows an eye-popping performance that was accompanied by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra playing on the Burj Steps, an arena-style venue extending from the building. Fireworks, which were also set off elsewhere around Dubai, appeared around and on top of the skyscraper.

The tower is used to fame—it had itsHollywood moment in the movie Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, when Tom Cruise scaled it from the outside.

Even if you couldn’t afford a $4,300 window-side table at the restaurant on the 122nd floor, aptly named Atmosphere, to catch the show up close, there was plenty to take in from the ground. Close to a million people on the street watched what organizers called “arguably the best display on the planet."