Happy New Year! Sparkling Sydney kicks off global 2014 party

Sydney kicked off New Year celebrations with a dazzling fireworks display, the first in a wave of pyrotechnics to usher in 2014 from Hong Kong to world record-chasing Dubai.

Seven tonnes of explosives lit up Australia’s biggest city, with fireworks shooting off the Opera House for the first time in more than 10 years as part of the December 31 extravaganza, focused on the Harbour Bridge.

“They were absolutely fantastic,” said Murphy Robertson, from Denver in the United States, after watching the AUS$6 million show which attracted some 1.5 million people to harbour vantage points.

“The Opera House was fantastic, but the thing that really got me was the sparks, the golden curtain of sparks going off the bridge.”

A record three fireworks displays took place -- at 9pm, 10:30pm and midnight -- showering colour over Sydney Harbour.

Dubai meanwhile is hoping to break the Guinness World Record for the largest display, pledging to set off more than 400,000 fireworks. Kuwait set the mark in 2011 with an hour-long blast of 77,282 fireworks.

Tonga, located near the international dateline, was one of the first nations to greet 2014, holding a prayer festival that culminated with a bamboo ”cannon” fired into the air.