Andrea Bocelli certainly finished things on a high note. That was quite the opening ceremony in Dubai, hopefully setting the tone for Expo over the course of the next six months.
Join us tomorrow, when we'll get a first look at the pavilions and attractions on the Expo site.
Legendary Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, takes to the stage singing "The prayer."
The 63-year-old, who went completely blind at the age of 12, is famous for blending opera and pop. He has collaborated with stars from Celine Dion to Jennifer Lopez and Ed Sheeran, and sold upwards of 90 million albums.
This performance whets the appetite for his world tour, which begins in the US on October 13, before returning to Dubai in early November for a show at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
US singer and actor Andra Day won a Golden Globe for her leading role in "The United States vs. Billie Holiday." Today, she's singing her Grammy-winning song "Rise Up," which she also performed at the White House during Barack Obama's presidency, and during the inauguration parade for President Joe Biden.
A decade ago, British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding’s debut album "Lights" was a UK number one, and its title track went five-times platinum in the US.
She’s not unfamiliar with singing at big events either – Goulding has performed at countless festivals, and even the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding reception.
Today, she's singing her 2012 hit "Anything could happen", surrounded by floating cloud structures.
The stars descend and the dome has become the ocean floor, with people dressed as coral or kelp swaying around the stage. There's a light show of sharks, dolphins, rays and other sea creatures.
Sustainability is a key theme of Expo 2020. Earlier this year, we got a preview of the Sustainability Pavilion, considered a "centerpiece of the event."
Watch the video for an early glimpse of the pavilion.
The Chinese musician is one of the world’s best known concert pianists. Last weekend he performed on stage with Coldplay, and he also performed at the 2008 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.
Suddenly the roof of the Al Wasl dome is filled with stars, and performers dance carrying crystal globes, and skaters zoom across the stage.
It's a pretty amazing spectacle, as the stars transform into glowing globes and a fiery planet emerges in the center, more than 11 meters (36 feet) in diameter, and composed of 35 rings with LED strips around each ring.
The colors change, accompanied by dramatic music, and the red globe becomes a blue planet, Earth.
Another key theme of Expo 2020 is mobility -- and with Dubai's robust car culture, including some real gas guzzlers, the city seems an appropriate setting to examine the future of movement.
Dubai itself has already unveiled plans for an electric sky pod network to help get people off the roads, with a national rail network also in the works.
The move away from fuel and diesel vehicles is happening elsewhere around the world, with Europe recently announcing its intention to eliminate vehicle emissions by 2035. In the US -- where a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport -- the target is 50% electric in the next decade.
Expos have a long history of transportation innovations, and with the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for green transport solutions is greater than ever.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has officially opened Expo 2020.
