It was staged in Red Square in front of St Basil's Cathedral and was broadcast live throughout Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries and in major broadcast markets elsewhere.
The pageant featured a cast of a thousand (plus horses), with Russian classical, choral and folk music as well as dance.
Large-scale graphics were used to depict scenes from Moscow's past.
The event was commissioned by the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, with the British producer and impresario Tony Hollingsworth being brought in to executive-produce the show.
Hollingsworth received 50 per cent of his fee from the City of Moscow, with the rest coming from television sales to other countries.