An enterprising advertising agency ran a spoof advertorial a couple of years ago for a real estate project, “Dubai Bubble City”. For many Dubai residents, used to world-beating projects, an architectural marvel suspended 200m above the ground did not sound implausible.

The past five years have seen Dubai’s twin building-blocks of economic diversification and an unprecedented period of high oil prices combine to lift the emirate into a new era. “People said Dubai was a bubble waiting to burst, but the bubble flew – and now they are following,” Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, told the FT in a recent interview.