The UAE magical moments of 2014 – in pictures

The action comedy Bang Bang! – cameras roll on the first Bollywood film to be shot in Abu Dhabi. History in the making, they said. The first Bollywood film to be shot in Abu Dhabi, they promised. And by the strict letter of the law they were right. But when audiences actually saw Bang Bang! six months later, there was a slight problem. The film was set in, um, London. Or was it Abu Dhabi passing itself off as London? Oh, and now we’re in Prague. Or is this Thailand? No, this bit is definitely Santorini in Greece. Still, the actual Abu Dhabi bits were ace – in a ridiculous, high-octane F1 car-chase sort of a way – and for a week or so the emirate was sprinkled with a little bit of Bollywood stardust ­courtesy of the lead stars Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan. Courtesy FOX Star Studios and Empire International

Elvis Costello and Diana Krall perform together on stage for the first time. When Diana Krall revealed she was going to be on the same Dubai bill as her husband, Elvis Costello, at the Blended festival in May, she seemed more pleased to be actually seeing him than potentially playing some music together. “I’ve spent two days with him in two months,” she said. Ah, the downside of being massively successful international music stars. Anyway, poor old Costello stayed firmly in the doghouse, too: at the end of Krall’s wonderful set he came back on stage to assist her for a valedictory run through his hit Almost Blue and a cover of Dylan’s Wallflower, and promptly messed up the timing on both of them. “Do you want to go again?” asked his highly amused wife. Larry Busacca / Getty Images For The Recording Academy / AFP

Karl Lagerfeld shows Chanel Cruise collection in the UAE at celeb-studded party on secret island. Ah, good old Karl Lagerfeld. No end-of-year culture round-up can be complete without the creative director of Chanel getting himself into a pickle (by calling Adele fat, for starters) or amusing the Twitterverse with missives from his cat, Choupette. Except, this time, he was actually making headlines in the UAE for something approaching work: for the first time, Chanel’s Cruise collection was presented in Dubai. Well, an immaculately appointed private island off the coast of Dubai – but you get the gist. Janelle Monae, Tilda Swinton, Freida Pinto, Dakota Fanning, Vanessa Paradis – they were all given the full VIP treatment by Lagerfeld. Vogue called the evening “stunning” – which, well, it was. Francois Nel / Getty Images

Forget SRK, Aamir Khan is spotted in Dubai. Seen PK yet? If not, you’re probably going to, such is the box-office appeal of Aamir Khan’s brilliant performance as an alien trapped on Earth. The cynic in us suggests that Khan knew he was on to a winner when he came to launch it in Dubai this month – unlike Shah Rukh Khan, Salman and certain other Bollywood stars who will turn up for the opening of an envelope in the UAE, the reserved 49-year-old, who even shuns awards ceremonies, hadn’t been here for four years. Still, he did tell us that he gets very anxious before his films are released, bless him. But in the case of PK, there was absolutely no need to worry. Satish Kumar / The National

South African artist Marco Cianfanelli installs a mammoth sculpture at Yas Mall. This year was all the poorer for not having Nelson Mandela in it, but his legacy and memory lives on in all manner of ways – including one from the South African artist Marco Cianfanelli, who created the fantastic sculpture of the late president at his “capture site” in KwaZulu-Natal. You might wonder how exactly that connects with the new Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi, but it became wonderfully clear last month when Cianfanelli’s newest creation was unveiled at its grand opening. Using similar techniques to his Mandela piece, a series of steel columns reveals six falcons that can be appreciated from any angle. A magnificent, uplifting sight – and, like the Mandela work, a reflection on the building of a nation. His metal trees inside the mall’s avenues aren’t bad, either. Christopher Pike / The National

Dan Brown comes to Sharjah International Book Fair. Star Wars, Rolling Stones, Dan Brown – it was a pretty impressive year for cultural icons if you were based in the UAE. The author of The Da Vinci Code (in case you missed the last decade, it’s one of the biggest-selling novels of all time) was in Sharjah for the International Book Fair last month – and came on stage to the kind of reaction Jagger himself might expect: all whoops and mobile phones in the air. He certainly knew how to give the crowd what they wanted, too, revealing that he is hard at work on another story, which will be the fifth featuring his Da Vinci Code hero Robert Langdon, whom the author describes as “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed”. Brown also had more than a few showbiz anecdotes about director Ron Howard’s adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks as Langdon – which miraculously made it sound like quite a good film. Courtesy SIBF

Will Smith celebrates New Year’s Eve in Dubai – and stays for a month. Everyone knows that antsy end-of-holiday feeling. The days are ticking by and you find yourself starting ridiculous conversations such as “wouldn’t it be great if we could just stay here for another month?” OK, for most of us, maybe not a month. A week. Or a few extra days, maybe. But it’s a month if you’re The Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith, who ostensibly flew to Dubai for his wedding anniversary but seemed to ditch poor Jada Pinkett Smith at the hotel and go out with his celebrity mates for days on end. He reprised Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It with DJ Jazzy Jeff on New Year’s Eve. He jumped out of a plane with Maxwell. He wore kanduras with the FF7 star and rapper Tyrese Gibson, and opened a shopping mall with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. February came and went and he was still here, watching his son perform in Dubai. The Pursuit of Happyness, indeed. Courtesy Toko

eL Seed spends a year in Dubai. Twenty-fourteen was the year the French-Tunisian street artist eL Seed became more than just a cult concern. His year-long residency at Tashkeel in Dubai was the base from which he launched his book in March – Lost Walls is a fantastic introduction to his oeuvre and has a brilliant Star Wars reference – and his compelling exhibition Declaration (which has just closed) lent another dimension to his calligraphy work. He painted a mural on the side of L’Institut du Monde Arabe, worked in the favelas of Brazil and completed other projects in Jeddah and Tunisia. A truly global talent, we were lucky to have him here. Satish Kumar / The National

Louvre Abu Dhabi announces its opening date and Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. We have been here before, of course. But when Louvre Abu Dhabi actually announced an opening day rather than a year, it did, suddenly, seem tangible. After all, the signature 7,000-tonne dome is now in place, so fit-out work can begin on the 9,200 square metres of galleries and display space. And, as we reported in October, from December 2 next year, Jean Nouvel’s iconic building will be the first gallery in the Middle East to exhibit a Leonardo da Vinci painting. Indeed, La Belle Ferronnière – his portrait of an enigmatic Milanese woman – hasn’t even been outside of Europe. Groundbreaking in more ways than one, then, and hopefully just a taster of what Louvre Abu Dhabi will be able to offer when it finally opens in 12 months’ time. Courtesy TDIC

The Who kick-start their last world tour in Abu Dhabi as part of the capital’s F1 celebrations. Here’s how to make Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend feel really old. When they formed The Who, the UAE didn’t exist and the entire population of Abu Dhabi at the time could have fitted into the arena on Yas Island where they kicked off their 50th anniversary – and final – world tour. But time, for a short while, did stand still as The Who roared through a greatest-hits set that began with their first single I Can’t Explain and took in Pinball Wizard, Substitute, Baba O’Riley and many, many more. The other headliners at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix celebrations – not least Pharrell Williams – might now have more star power, but if he’s still performing with such intensity in 2064, we’ll be very impressed. Ravindranath K / The National (for News)

Future generations may well look back on 2014 as the year the UAE really hit its pop-culture stride. You could hardly move for film crews – from Hollywood and Bollywood – and the stars came here in droves. Here’s a look at the year’s highlights.