Everything about the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night was spectacular – even the fake fireworks used during the ceremony. That’s right – fake fireworks, in the form of computer animation, were employed to make the Beijing Olympics opening even more amazing.

Billions of viewers worldwide caught a glimpse of CGI effects to create part of the fireworks, according to the Beijing Times newspaper.

Gao Xiaolong told the newspaper about being pleased with his firework effects – his production company, Crystal Stone, spent a year working on the computer animated project.

According to Xiaolong, “most of the audience thought it was being shown live, so that was mission accomplished.”

There were some real fireworks in the mix too, but the fireworks show was mostly fake – including the “footprints” shown stepping from Tiananmen Square to the Bird’s Nest stadium. The last 29 steps of that sequence were real.

Why the fake fireworks for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony? Mainly because of safety reasons – Olympic organizers thought that magnitude of a show was too dangerous.

The effects of the fake fireworks were done very realistically – including the appearance of a shaky camera that appeared was taking the shot from an overhead helicopter.