A Monument to Ambition

The Burj Khalifa cost about $1.5 billion. At the peak of work a fresh floor went up every few days, and more than 12,000 workers labored in punishing desert heat. Many earned only a few dollars a day — a human cost that critics call the building's real foundation.

For its entire construction the tower was called "Burj Dubai." It was renamed Burj Khalifa at its 2010 opening to honor Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, then president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, after Abu Dhabi stepped in with a $10 billion bailout during the 2009 financial crisis. Even the world's tallest building needed a rescue to stay standing.