Dubai officially opened the record-breaking Burj Dubai on 4 January and at the same time changed its name to Burj Khalifa bin Zayed, in recognition of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

The opening coincides with the fourth anniversary of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum becoming the emirate’s ruler.

The project’s developer, Emaar Properties, revealed that the final height of the tower is 828 metres. This is about 319 metres higher than Taipei 101, was previously the world’s tallest building.

The tower was one of the biggest construction projects ever undertaken in the world. It took 22 million man hours to build and at the peak of activity 12,000 people were working on the project.

The tower was built by a contracting consortium of South Korea’s Samsung Corporation, the local/ Belgian Bel Hasa Six Construct, and the local Arabtec Construction, which was awarded the estimated $875m construction contract in December 2004.

The structural engineer was UK-based Hyder Consulting and the architect is the Chicago office of SOM.