Dubai spares no expense when making its cityscape the most jaw-dropping in the world.
In the 2000s, the emirate dropped nearly $600 billion into constructing the world's tallest tower, biggest man-made island, and most luxurious hotel, among other architectural feats.
These aerial photos of Dubai capture the city's elegance and ambition.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Dubai is a city of superlatives. Located in the United Arab Emirates, the ritzy metropolis is home to some of the tallest, biggest, and most luxurious structures in the world.
These dazzling photos of Dubai, taken from the sky, show off the city's architectural feats.
The Burj Al Arab, the fourth-tallest hotel in the world, dominates the Dubai skyline.
Completed in 1999, the hotel is on an artificial island in the Persian gulf.
The self-proclaimed "most luxurious hotel in the world" sits 919 feet out into the water, so it doesn't cast a shadow on the beaches nearby.
One of the hotel's main features is its heliport. It can be converted into a tennis court that, hanging 650 feet up, is the highest suspended tennis court in the world.
The Burj Al Arab hotel's success inspired one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken, the Palms, a chain of manmade islands.
The story goes that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, decided the city needed a "backup plan" once its oil supply ran out. Three islands were constructed off the coast to provide land for premium real estate and luxury hotels.
Source: International Business Times
Palm Island Jumeirah, the smallest island, welcomed its first tenants in 2007.
The Palms took just four years to complete, requiring 12 million pounds of rock and 53 million pounds of sand to build.
Source: International Business Times
Here's the view from the Atlantis hotel on the tip of the island group.
Nearby, a man-made archipelago called The World has 300 islands in the shape of the Earth's continents. It's hard to tell from this angle.
Even from above, you can see the project is incomplete.
The global financial crisis forced the developers into a standstill in 2010. Today, most of the islands sit bare and undeveloped. The project has cost roughly $14 million to date.
Source: Business Insider
Dubai Marina is also quite a sight to see.
Developers dug a trench and filled it with water from the Persian Gulf. The artificial canal stretches 2 miles long.
Dubai Marina is home to Jebel Ali Port, the world's largest man-made harbor.
Source: DP World
The marina also includes the Jumeirah Beach Residence, the largest single-phase residential development in the world.
Source: Best Real-Estate Agent Dubai
The Jumeirah Beach Residence, which opened in 2008, includes 35 residential towers and five hotels. They offer some of the best waterfront views Dubai has to offer.
There's 364,000 square feet of beach to accommodate all those guests.
Source: Jumeirah Beach
Sheikh Zayed Road helps form E 11, the longest road in the Emirates.
The city's main artery runs parallel to the coast, connecting the Palms and Dubai Marina.
The world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, is perhaps the centerpiece of Dubai's rapidly growing skyline. It cost $1.5 billion to construct.
The glitzy pillar stands 2,717 feet tall — the rough equivalent of two Empire State Buildings stacked. Here's the view from the observation deck on the 124th floor.
Source: Burj Khalifa
Don't look down!
The tower took five years to build and required as many as 12,000 workers on site on a given day. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the same firm behind One World Trade Center.
Source: Burj Khalifa
Upon completion in 2010, Burj Khalifa used 31,400 metric tons of rebar, or reinforced steel. Laid end to end, the steel would stretch a quarter of the way around the world.
It won't be the tallest for much longer, however. In October, a crew broke ground on what may be the newest tallest building in the world, simply known as The Tower.
Designed by famed Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava, who was also behind the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, The Tower is expected to top off in 2020.
Source: Business Insider
What a pretty picture it will make for.
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