Fireworks explode over the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Balinese children wearing traditional costumes dance during a parade for this year's last sundown in Bali island, Indonesia on New Year's Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013. A Buddhist woman attaches her name card on a lantern ahead of the new year at Chogye Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Exploding fireworks sprayed from the sails of the Sydney Opera House and the Australian city's harbor bridge at midnight Tuesday as the world ushered in a new year. More than 1 million people crammed the Sydney Harbor foreshore on a warm summer night to watch the pyrotechnics show that appeared to live up to its billing as the most extravagant of Sydney's already renowned annual display. Dubai will later try to create the world's largest fireworks show to ring in 2014. Closer to the edge of the International Dateline, New Zealand bid farewell to 2013 two hours before Sydney with fireworks erupting from Auckland's Sky Tower as cheering revelers danced in the streets of the South Pacific island nation's largest city. Dubai, home to world's tallest tower, is known for its glitz, glamor and over-the-top achievements, and this New Year's Eve the city is planning to break another record by creating the largest fireworks show ever. Organizers plan to light up the city's coastline with a flying falcon made out of fireworks that moves across a massive man-made palm-shaped island alongside a countdown in fireworks. Organizers say they will also create a burst of light out of fireworks to imitate a sunrise and dazzle spectators with a United Arab Emirates flag that could also break records for being the largest ever made out of fireworks. The 6-minute extravaganza will include 500,000 fireworks from 400 firing locations, all synchronized by 100 computers from stations across the city, said Barrett Wissman, co-chairman of IMG Artists that is managing the event. Guinness World Record officials will be on hand to measure the scale of the event. Wissman said the display will cover 30 miles (48 kilometers) of seafront. "It is really mind-blowing, the size of this," he said. In Australia, fireworks launched from four sails of the Sydney Opera House for the first time in more than a decade. The Sydney Harbor Bridge was also illuminated by fireworks shooting skyward and raining from its decks to the water below. Organizers had expected 1.6 million people would line the harbor shores to watch 7 metric tons (7.7 U.S. tons) of pyrotechnics explode in 12 seconds. The estimate appeared accurate. Mona Rucek, a 28-year-old tourist from Munich, Germany, was impressed by the display. It filled up the whole sky. It's really, really nice," she said on the Sydney waterside. In the Philippines, more than 260 people had been injured by firecracker blasts and celebratory gunfire ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations, one of Asia's most violent revelries. Department of Health spokesman Dr. Eric Tayag said he expected the number of injuries to rise sharply when Filipinos ignite powerful firecrackers to end a year marked by tragic disasters, including a Nov. 8 typhoon that left more than 6,100 dead and nearly 1,800 others missing. "Many here are welcoming the new year after losing their mothers, fathers, siblings and children so you can imagine how it feels," said village chief Maria Rosario Bactol of Anibong community in Tacloban, the city worst hit by Typhoon Haiyan. I tell them to face the reality, to move on and stand up, but I know it will never be easy. "Since the government started its campaign to crack down on luxury spending and promote frugality, our business with government agencies has been in decline," said Mao Xiangfei. But in one polluted Chinese city, the celebrations were slated to be quieter as authorities in Wuhan in central Hubei province called off their annual New Year fireworks show and banned fireworks downtown to avoid making the smoggy air worse. In Japan, thousands of visitors, some donning kimono, will pray, ring a bell and toss coins as offerings at shrines, wishing for health, wealth and happiness. Among those upbeat about what the new year might bring is Junya Sakata, a 23-year-old Tokyo waiter looking forward to taking sommelier classes so he can move up in his career. "I hope the economy will keep improving, building up to the 2020 Olympics," he said, which will be held in Tokyo. In Hong Kong, tens of thousands will turn out to watch the fireworks display over the southern Chinese city's famed Victoria Harbor. Pyrotechnics will be fired off near the Kowloon peninsula and from the tops of seven skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island. A British colonial-era canon will be fired at midnight in a tradition dating from the end of World War II. In Indonesia, New Year's celebrations are widespread except in the city of Banda Aceh where Islamic clerics prohibit Muslims from celebrating New Year's Eve. In the capital, Jakarta, tourism authorities estimate 2 million people will take part in street parties in 162 locations. Indonesian police deployed at least 92,000 policemen to safeguard the celebration across the country. Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong; Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia; Yuri Kageyama and Eric Talmadge in Tokyo and Louise Watt in Beijing contributed to this report.