As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history.
It was the first Summer Games opening to be carried out at dusk, taking advantage of the darkness as a dramatic effect and playing with artificial lighting to give it more spectacularity, something that has become a standard since then.
[6] The opening ceremony featured incidental music composed specifically for the occasion by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Angelo Badalamenti and Carlos Miranda and an Olympic fanfare by Carles Santos.
[a] At 20:00 CEST, the stadium speakers, Constantino Romero and Inka Martí, welcomed the audience in the four official languages while 800 artists simulating flowers and birds, remembering Las Ramblas, began to move on the blue rug that covered the central field of the stadium accompanied by the "Olympic fanfare" composed by Carles Santos and played by seventy-four musicians with drums, trumpets and tenoras.
Once in their seats, the Anthem of Spain was played and after which the Patrulla Águila aerobatic planes flew over the stadium right on cue, leaving trails of smoke in the sky in the colors of the Olympic flag.
At 20:07 CEST, Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras, accompanied by cobla La Principal de la Bisbal [es], sang "Sou benvinguts", a welcoming Olympic sardana composed by Josep Lluís Moraleda and Lluís Serrahima, while a giant circle dance was formed by 600 dancers dressed in white in the center of the stadium in the shape of the five Olympic rings.
The same cobla then played the "Cant de la Senyera", a Catalan popular song composed by Lluís Millet in 1896, while the dancers took the shape of a heart after which 1,500 doves were released.
Plácido Domingo sang "Te quiero morena", a jota from the zarzuela El trust de los tenorios [es] composed by José Serrano in 1910, while Cristina Hoyos crossed the central ground on horseback among 200 dancers.
At 20:30 CEST, La Fura dels Baus performed the segment called "El Mar Mediterráneo" accompanied with incidental music composed and conducted by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
A boat appeared among the waves, which unfurled its sails and prepared to fight against a series of sea monsters which it defeated thanks to divine intervention and allegorically founding the city of Barcelona, as a symbol of civilization.
At 20:53 CEST, following eighty gymnasts waving ribbons with the Olympic colors, the parade of nations began, starting with the Greek team, accompanied by the beat of a march composed and conducted by Carlos Miranda.
At 22:10 CEST, the Mayor of Barcelona Pasqual Maragall and the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch made their speeches in the four official languages.
At 22:36 CEST, the Olympic flame entered the stadium, accompanied by music composed by Angelo Badalamenti and carried by Herminio Menéndez, who passed it to the last reliever Juan Antonio San Epifanio.
It was unfolded over the athletes accompanied by the symphonic version of "Amigos Para Siempre", composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, sang by a choir in English, Spanish and Catalan.
At 22:53 CEST, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Jaume Aragall, Teresa Berganza and Juan Pons gave a seventeen arias recital accompanied by the Ciutat de Barcelona Orchestra conducted by Luis Antonio García.