The Burj Dubai, currently being built along the Shaikh Zayed Road, will be the tallest building in the world when it is completed in 2008.

These pictures, taken in the summer of 2006, show the rapid progress that has been made on the project.

By November 2006 the building had reached 80 floors.

The tower will have more than 160 floors and stretch more than 700 metres into the sky when it is completed.

Burj Dubai will contain an Armani branded hotel as well as hundreds of residential apartments and offices.

It will form part of a larger development which also includes Dubai Mall, which will be the largest mall in the world when it opens.

Across the road from the Burj Dubai is the already opened Al Murooj complex.

Also next door to the Burj project will be Business Bay, a development with dozens of commerical skyscrapers situated next to an extension of Dubai Creek.