The exhibition featured some 10,000 performers, some dressed in costumes ranging from skeletons to men in tuxedoes and top hats, typifying a Dominican carnival.

The ceremony also was attended by then-President of the Dominican Republic Hipólito Mejía, Pan American Sports Organization president Mario Vázquez Raña and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Two Olympic parks were renewed or built, the Centro Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte and Parque del Este complex.

Laborers were forced to work right up until the opening ceremony because of construction delays, electrical blackouts, and questionable venue quality.

Numerous protest marches were staged to call attention to austerity measures, including import taxes and spending cuts, and neglect of impoverished areas.

[1] While praising the first-rate facilities, critics decried the huge cost overruns, the high payroll of the organizers, and concerns over the Dominican Republic's ability to maintain the venues after the Games.