To mark 20 years of leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, DAMAC commissioned Cyberdrone to deliver a city-scale drone show. The tribute unfolded as a synchronized, multi-location performance flown simultaneously over Skydive Dubai and Safa Park, with 2,000 drones at each site—4,000 in the sky at once. The full show was repeated twice during the evening, allowing the same story to be experienced from different places and moments across Dubai.
A tribute to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
On January 4, 2026, the UAE marked two decades since Sheikh Mohammed’s accession as Ruler of Dubai: twenty years that have reshaped how the city functions, grows, and positions itself globally. Over this period, Dubai has evolved not only in scale, but in mindset: faster decisions, bigger ambitions, and a consistent focus on what comes next.
Alongside official ceremonies and institutional tributes, DAMAC chose to express its respect in a public, spatial way by working with light, architecture, and the city itself. As Hussain Sajwani, Founder of DAMAC Group, stated in Gulf News:
“On behalf of DAMAC Group, I applaud His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for two decades of visionary leadership that have made Dubai a global benchmark for ambition, opportunity and quality of life. He has led us with a vision that extends far beyond skylines and infrastructure, with leadership that has elevated lives, sparked opportunity and placed knowledge, excellence and innovation at the centre of national progress.”
Drones became the medium through which this anniversary could be felt not as a closed event, but as a moment open to the entire urban landscape.
Dubai drone show with one story across two locations
Rather than concentrating all attention on a single performance or location, DAMAC designed the celebration as a citywide moment unfolding in parallel. The drone show was flown simultaneously at two locations, and then repeated later the same evening, extending the tribute across time as well as space.
This structure allowed the same visual story to reach different audiences across Dubai—whether encountered from parks, promenades, roads, or surrounding neighborhoods—while maintaining precise synchronization and consistency in content. Though experienced from different viewpoints and at different times, each performance formed part of one carefully choreographed narrative.
2,000-drone portraits in the sky and more
The visual core of the performances was built around large-scale aerial portraits of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, assembled using 2,000 drones. These formations were designed to dominate the skyline: clear, confident, and immediately readable from distance.
Instead of fleeting abstract visuals, the emphasis was placed on recognizable, monumental forms that spoke directly to the person being honored. In a city defined by architectural icons and landmark skylines, the portraits were crafted to command presence—large enough to be felt, clear enough to be understood, and symbolic enough to echo the theme of decades of leadership, progress, and purposeful ambition.
DAMAC’s citywide celebration
While the drone shows functioned as the visual center of the tribute, they were part of a broader citywide expression by DAMAC. Across key developments—including Safa One, DAMAC Tower by Paramount, DAMAC Lagoons, DAMAC Hills 1 and 2, DAMAC Heights, and Cavalli Tower—celebratory banners and installations extended the narrative to built form and public space, reinforcing the continuity between built environment and emotional resonance.
This holistic approach reflected DAMAC’s long-term relationship with the city’s evolution. As one of Dubai’s leading private real estate developers, it has grown alongside the emirate, delivering iconic residential and mixed-use projects that mirror the ambition and pace of national progress.
How the audience experienced the drone light show
One of the most powerful aspects of this tribute was its distributed format. With the show running in parallel across two locations and repeating later in the evening, the celebration was not tied to a single crowd or moment.
From beachfront promenades to urban parks, elevated viewpoints to everyday city routes, the performances became public, open-ended encounters with the sky, shared across locations and time. As successive waves of light unfolded over Dubai, the homage was experienced both individually and collectively, reinforcing the idea of a city united by a common visual language.
Cyberdrone’s approach to city-scale storytelling
For Cyberdrone, this project was an example of drone shows used not as standalone entertainment, but as a tool for urban storytelling. Multiple flights, coordinated visuals, and portrait-scale imagery allowed the sky to function as a civic medium, one capable of carrying meaning at the scale of the city.
A celebration for a leader.
A city engaged in the story.
And a skyline lit in honor of two decades of purpose, progress, and shared aspiration.
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