A host of A-listers last night flocked to a £13.5m party that the organisers billed as the event of the year - if not the century.

The star-studded celebration was held to mark the opening of the £1bn Atlantis Hotel in Dubai.

Kylie Minogue performed a solo show, for a fee reported to be £2m, before the world's largest-ever fireworks display lit up the Dubai coastline, and celebrity guests included Robert DeNiro, the Duchess of York, Boris Becker and Janet Jackson.

The on-site chefs boasted enough Michelin stars to match any constellation, and even the fish in the aquarium were provided with 220kg of "restaurant quality seafood", according to the Atlantis group's publicity material.

With such an extravagant opening coming as the world descends into recession, hotel chief executive Sol Kerzner admitted to some misgivings about Atlantis's opening date.

The South African gaming and leisure magnate, who was behind the Sun City development in his native country, said: "It's not the perfect timing to open a $1.5bn (£1bn) resort. On the other hand, we don't build something like this with the short-term in mind."

Property prices on the Palm Jumeirah development have tumbled by as much as 40% since September this year, brokers said yesterday, and some homes on the man-made luxury island were available this week for 50% less than their original asking price.

Despite the gloomy global outlook creeping into the Persian Gulf, Mr Kerzner, with a personal fortune well in excess of £1bn, remained optimistic.

"I believe Dubai will come to be one of the top destinations in the world," he said.

Guests can mull over Mr Kerzner's words as they look at the underwater seascape through the viewing windows in their rooms, and those who enjoy a three-night stay can perhaps book a return trip to the 924sq m Bridge Suite.

The resort's brochure boasts that the luxury suite offers views over all of Dubai, though a glimpse of the desert panorama will set visitors back $25,000 (£16,900) per night. Money, however, was no object last night as party organisers cheerily blew nearly £5m on fireworks to amuse their 2500 guests.

The display was said to be more than three times the size of the spectacular that opened the Beijing Olympics earlier this year, with around 100,000 devices set off.

A pod of 24 dolphins was reportedly bought in to fill a "rescue and rehabilitation centre" for the party's duration. Atlantis management said the hotel had an excellent record in dolphin maintenance, but activists at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society yesterday accused the company of shipping in two-dozen mammals captured in shallow waters off the Solomon Islands.

Earlier this year, the hotel was forced to free a 13ft whale shark after a plan to put it on display in a huge lobby pool drew international condemnation.

Organisers proudly noted that last night's firework's display could be seen from space.

However, while aliens may have been able to watch and wonder what was going on, the view from many poorer Dubai neighbourhoods was not so good.

While the A-list stars drank champagne at the most expensive private celebration the world has ever seen, locals were forced to display special passes or tenancy contracts to gain access to their homes, according to media within the emirate.

Reports said an exclusion zone of two-nautical miles was applied to the sea around the hotel.

Amid all the hubbub, several stars who had been rumoured to attend did not appear. US chat show host and latter-day political commentator Oprah Winfrey apparently stayed home, and the famously left-wing actor Ben Affleck opted instead to visit refugee camps in Congo.