The captivating new slogan being used to promote Las Vegas is "Escape Reality. Temporarily". But given Dubai's Napoleonic quest to become a global services and leisure hub, future generations may most instinctively associate those words with this rising behemoth.

Dubai, probably best known for the Burj Al Arab Hotel, where the top suite costs $15,000 (£8,000) a night, is engaged in a construction boom of biblical proportions - to be explored tomorrow night in Dan Cruickshank's Marvels of the Modern World on BBC2 - that has attracted huge international interest from both the mainstream and architectural press. German TV personality Sabine Christiansen is to produce one of her worldwide talk shows on CNBC TV in Dubai, with the show expected to reach more than 340m households in 101 countries.