The opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics featured an impressive fireworks display that represented a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks, marching above the city from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest National Stadium. The fireworks display apparently did actually take place , however the version displayed on television and on the giant displays in the stadium where in fact computer generated graphics, created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at precisely the right moment. "It would have been prohibitive to have tried to film it live," said an advisor to the Beijing Olympic Committee. "We could not put the helicopter pilot at risk by making him try to follow the firework route." According to the Telegraph.co.uk "Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible: they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."
