Crowning glory or last hurrah? Dubai has opened the world's tallest structure in a glitzy ceremony to put a brave face on its crushing debt woes.

Dubai's ruler opened the 1.5 billion US dollar tower on Monday. The 828-meter structure, with 200 storeys, surpasses the next tallest inhabited building, Taipei 101 in China's Taiwan, by more than 300 meters.

Emaar properties, developers of the Burj Dubai, say the building delivers a new message: hope for the future.

Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar properties, said, "The message is very simple, the message is that, you know, we build for tens of years to come. Crises come and go and the world has gone through two years of difficult times. We have some hope and optimism that we must move on and I think this is a message that, you know, this is, I hope that this is the beginning of a gradual move forward."