Various meetings were held across Australia from January to August 2007, with the event culminating in Leaders Week, where the heads of government of each member economy attended Sydney from 2 to 9 September 2007.

The logo comprises 21 individual elements, representing the 21 APEC Member Economies from across the Asia-Pacific, uniting to form a diverse but open community.

The spectrum of colours of red, orange and yellow reflects the Australian personality of warm and inviting and also the atmosphere of friendship and collaboration fostered by the APEC meetings.

In 2006, the New South Wales government declared 7 September 2007 a public holiday that encompassed the Sydney metropolitan area, so that people would be kept away from the inner city "to assist with the smooth operation of the APEC event".

He accidentally referred to APEC as "OPEC", but seemed to recover and turned it into a joke; when thanking the Australian Defence Force for its cooperation, he used the phrase "Austrian troops"; and finally he attempted to exit the stage in the wrong direction.

[5][6][7] The APEC meeting was widely criticised for having severe security arrangements, which resulted in closure of roads without sufficient warning as leaders' motorcades travelled around the city.

[14] The Philippine government has sought a clarification regarding an APEC press release describing the Filipino national costume for men, the barong Tagalog, as a "peasant shirt".

Buses were stopped because of security measures on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Eastern Distributor off ramp, and passengers walked because traffic was not moving during the morning peak on Wednesday.

On 6 September 2007, eleven cast and crew of the Australian satirical TV comedy series, The Chaser's War on Everything including executive producer Julian Morrow and Chas Licciardello, were detained by police outside the InterContinental Hotel after driving a fake motorcade through the Sydney central business district and breaching an APEC security zone.

Police only realised that the motorcade was a hoax when Chas Licciardello, dressed as Osama bin Laden, stepped out of an official-looking car replete with a Canadian flag flying from the bonnet,[17] outside the hotel, where U.S. President George W. Bush was staying.

On 28 April 2008 the charges against all eleven members were dropped by the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as it was considered that the police gave "tacit" permission for the group to enter the restricted zone by failing to identify the fake security badges.

The following day more members of The Chaser team (except for Morrow and Licciardello who were required by police to stay away from APEC security areas) conducted a further stunt, this time dressing up as a line of black limousines made from cardboard.