Honestly, it’s hard to wrap your head around how big the Burj Khalifa actually is until you’re standing right under it. It’s not just a building; it’s basically a vertical city that looks like it was plucked out of a sci-fi movie and dropped into the middle of the desert. But when people ask about the Burj Khalifa when built, they usually expect a simple date. The reality is a bit more of a saga. It wasn't just "built" on a random Tuesday. It was a massive, six-year-long struggle against gravity, wind, and the blistering Dubai heat that changed the city forever.
The Timeline: What Really Happened Between 2004 and 2010
If you want the short version, construction started in January 2004 and the grand opening happened on January 4, 2010.
But that's the boring part.
The interesting part is that for years, nobody—and I mean nobody except the inner circle—actually knew how tall it was going to be. Emaar Properties kept the final height a "well-guarded secret" to keep competitors from trying to outdo them mid-build. It was originally planned to be around 518 meters, which is already huge. Then they realized they could push it. They kept adding sections, eventually hitting that iconic 828 meters (2,717 feet).
The Milestones
- January 21, 2004: Excavation began. Imagine digging a hole for a building that weighs as much as 100,000 elephants.
- February 2007: It officially became taller than the Sears Tower (Willis Tower).
- September 2007: It became the world's tallest free-standing structure, passing the CN Tower.
- January 2009: The spire was completed, finally reaching the top.
- January 4, 2010: The big reveal. This is also when they changed the name from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa at the last second to honor Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Why It Didn't Fall Over (The Science)
Building something this tall is a nightmare for engineers. You’ve got the wind pushing at the top with incredible force, and the ground trying to shift under the weight.
To solve this, Adrian Smith and the team at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) used a "buttressed core." Think of it like a three-winged Y-shape. Each wing supports the other two. When the wind hits one side, the other two wings act like braces to keep it steady.
Also, they "confused the wind."
That sounds weird, right? Basically, as the building goes up, it steps back in a spiral pattern. This means the wind never hits a flat surface long enough to create those rhythmic, swaying vibrations (vortex shedding) that can literally snap a building in half. Every floor has a slightly different shape, so the wind just gets... lost.
The Absolute Madness of the Build
You sort of have to appreciate the sheer scale of the materials. We're talking 330,000 cubic meters of concrete. If you laid that concrete out in a sidewalk, it would stretch for 1,200 miles.
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Then there’s the heat.
Dubai is a furnace. You can't just pour concrete at 120°F (50°C) because it will crack before it even sets. To get around this, they did most of the big concrete pours at night and mixed the concrete with huge amounts of ice. Yes, they literally used ice to build a skyscraper.
At the peak of construction, they had over 12,000 workers on-site every single day. It was a 24/7 operation for years.
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A Few Mind-Blowing Facts
- Temperature Drop: It is actually about 15°F (8°C) cooler at the top of the tower than at the base.
- The Elevators: They travel at 10 meters per second. Your ears will definitely pop.
- The Glass: There are 26,000 hand-cut glass panels. It takes a crew of window cleaners about three to four months to clean the whole thing from top to bottom. Once they finish? They start all over again.
The Burj Khalifa When Built: A Economic Gamble
When the Burj Khalifa when built finally opened its doors, it wasn't all celebrations. The 2008 global financial crisis hit Dubai hard. There was a point where people wondered if the tower would end up as the world's tallest ghost town.
But it did exactly what it was meant to do: it turned Dubai into a global brand.
Before the Burj, Dubai was known for oil. After the Burj, it became a tourism and real estate powerhouse. Even if the building itself cost $1.5 billion, the "halo effect" it created for the surrounding Downtown Dubai area—the Dubai Mall, the fountains, the luxury apartments—is worth way more. Properties with a view of the Burj still command a massive premium, sometimes 30% higher than those without.
Is It Still the Tallest?
As of 2026, yes.
There’s always talk about the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia or other "km-high" projects, but many have faced delays. For now, the Burj Khalifa remains the undisputed king of the clouds. It’s held the record since 2010, which is a pretty long reign in the world of architecture where everyone is always trying to outbuild the next guy.
Actionable Tips for Your Visit
If you’re actually planning to go see what the Burj Khalifa when built looks like in person, don't just wing it.
- Book "At The Top" tickets weeks in advance. If you try to buy them at the door, you'll pay triple the price, or they'll be sold out.
- Go for the "Sunset Slot." Aim for a ticket about 90 minutes before sunset. You get the day view, the golden hour, and the city lights all in one trip.
- The Fountain Show starts at 6:00 PM. It runs every 30 minutes. The best view is from the restaurants in Souk Al Bahar across the water, not the crowded bridge.
- Download the "Burj Khalifa" app. It has a decent AR feature that explains what you're looking at from the observation deck.
The Burj Khalifa is more than just steel and glass. It’s a reminder of what happens when someone asks "how high can we actually go?" and then spends six years and billions of dollars finding out the answer.