The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will officially begin on Friday with the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.
More than 6,000 volunteers will be involved in what choreographer Deborah Colker has promised will be a "masterpiece of dance and passion," per Rio 2016.
Brazilian culture will be at the centre of the opening festivities, along with the traditional athletes parade and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
Read on for full scheduling information for the ceremony and details of what is to be expected at the Maracana.
Date: Friday, August 5
Time: 8 p.m. (BRT), midnight (BST), 7 p.m. (ET)
TV Info: Watch live on BBC One (UK) and NBC (U.S.)
Live Stream: BBC iPlayer, NBC Live Stream
Four years ago, filmmaker Danny Boyle directed a quintessentially British affair to kick off London 2012 with an opening ceremony hailed as "noisy, busy, witty [and] dizzying" by the New York Times' Sarah Lyall.
In 2016, City of God and The Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles has been tasked with introducing the Rio Olympics to the world—assisted by Andrucha Waddington and Daniela Thomas, as well as Colker.
With Brazil struggling financially, the budget available to the ceremony organisers is reportedly just 10 per cent of London's, and Meirelles said he is happy to be working with a smaller sum of money, per Tariq Panja of Bloomberg:
We are in a financial crisis, everybody knows. It wouldn’t be fair to spend money that London spent in their ceremony.
I guess I’d be ashamed to waste what London spent in a country where we need sanitation, where education needs money. So I’m very glad we are not spending money like crazy.
I’m happy to work with this low budget because it makes sense for Brazil.
Rio 2016 ceremonies director Leonardo Caetano has promised the limited funding will be made up for with originality, per Nick Butler of InsideTheGames.biz: "We will not have luxury, but we will have originality. We will spend less, but we compensate with creativity, rhythm and emotion."
Details of what exactly will be involved have been kept secret.
However, executive producer Marco Balich has revealed that the Amazon rainforest will feature as one of the key subjects of the show, per the Associated Press' Leanne Italie (via CBC): "The message is Brazil has the last garden in the world, which is the Amazon, and we need to protect that garden. This is a message of hope for the future. This is not a message of 'oh the world is going to terminate because of global warming.'"
Supermodel Gisele Bundchen and footballing legend Pele are both expected to be involved, while the overall theme will reportedly be "the evolution of the people of Brazil," per the Daily Mail's Caroline Graham.
English actor Judi Dench will reportedly be the one of the only non-Brazilian performers taking part, and will read Carlos Drummond de Andrade's poem, "A Flor e a Nausea," together with Fernanda Montenegro, per Gordon Rayner and Tom Morgan in the Telegraph.
The 75-year-old Pele is being tipped to light the Olympic flame, per UOL (via Brazilian football writer Paulo Freitas):
The three-time FIFA World Cup winner is arguably Brazil's most recognisable sporting figure and would be a worthy successor to the likes of three-time Olympic gold medallist Li Ning (Beijing 2008) and boxing legend Muhammad Ali (Atlanta 1996) in igniting the famous flame.
The Olympic cauldron will be a "small affair," an intentional representation of low emission, and will be framed by a large sculpture by American artist Anthony Howe, per CBC's report.
Per Tom Dutton of the Evening Standard, the flame will be moved to the Port of Rio de Janeiro for the duration of the Games following its ceremonial lighting in the Maracana at the opening ceremony.
Dutton also reported Greece will lead the parade of athletes in Rio, followed then by each other competing nation in alphabetical order.
Per BBC Sport, modern pentathlete Yana Marques will carry the flag for hosts Brazil in the parade, while tennis star Andy Murray has been handed the responsibility for Great Britain and 22-time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps will bear the flag for the United States.
There will be 206 countries represented at the 2016 Olympics, competing in 42 different sports.
Friday's ceremony will provide the host nation with the opportunity to present its Games to the global audience and open two weeks of the best sporting action on the planet.