Burj Khalifa (Dubaï): the tallest man-made tower ever built

The building was designed by British architect Adrian Smith. It has 160 floors, at 828 m (2,717 ft), using 330,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete and103,000 square meters of glass.

The official height was kept a secret until the opening ceremony, which featured fireworks, streams of water and parachute jumpers, the New York Times reported. The $1.5 billion dollar tower holds a mixture of nightclubs, mosques, literary suites, and boardrooms. It will eventually hold the world's first Armani hotel, the world's highest swimming pool, and the world's highest mosque. More than 12,000 people will reside in its 6 million square feet.

The Burj Khalifa takes its name from Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The last-minute renaming -- the tower was originally to be called the Burj Dubai -- reflected the troubled economic situation surrounding its completion. The capital has poured billions in the financially ailing Dubai to cover its debts.