Nutcracker show sets two Guinness World records

Let’s start in December 2023. In an event at Birdville Fine Arts Athletics Complex, North Richland Hills, Texas, Sky Elements used 1499 drones to tell the story of the Nutcracker ballet. The show brought to life characters including the Mouse King, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Santa Claus and, in a beautiful 3D rendition, the Nutcracker himself.

The show set two new Guinness World records – the largest aerial display of a fictional character, and the largest aerial image.

4,000 drones at Dubai World Cup

Drones can be complemented by other technologies, including lighting and fireworks. One recent example using all of these was at the closing ceremony of the Dubai (horse racing) World Cup in March 2024. Here a stunning display of 4,000 drones created dynamic 3D sculptures during a 33-minute performance.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video from show creator AO Multimedia and Drones.

Disney topples Nutcracker

Just a few months after the Nutcracker show, one of the records it set was broken. The Bastille Day (14 July) firework and drone show at Disneyland Paris took the record for largest aerial display of a fictional character with a 1571-drone tricolour representation of Mickey Mouse.

You can see it right at the end of this video.

We believe that this show was the work of French drone show creator Dronisos.

… then Disney topples itself

Just a few days later another part of the Disney empire, Marvel Studios, broke the same record twice in the same evening. It used 1599 drones to display an image of the character Deadpool at Comic-Con in San Diego, then moments later showed a 1607-drone rendering of Wolverine.

Meanwhile, just before the Paris Olympics…

On the same night as the Disney spectacular, another drone show was taking place about 40km away at a Paris Olympics preview event. Centred on the Eiffel Tower, this combined drone representations of an Olympic torchbearer and other figures with a spectacular firework display

This video is from drone manufacturer HighGreat.

So what’s the biggest drone display ever?

At the time of writing, the record for biggest drone display ever is held by UVify  – a manufacturer whose light show drones were demonstrated in the Drone Arena at ISE 2024. At an event in Songdo, South Korea, the manufacturer lit up the night sky with 5293 of its IFO high-performance choreography swarm drones, setting a new record for the most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously.

There are some breathtaking sequences in this video.

Attack of the drones

But while setting new records is one way to wow crowds (and online viewers), creative displays involving fewer drones can be impressive in other ways. Let’s finish with a 20-minute retelling of Star Wars: A New Hope, created with 800 drones by Sky Elements at Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California at the start of May 2024, just ahead of Star Wars Day (‘May the Fourth be with you’).