A French skyscraper climber who calls himself Spiderman has successfully scaled the world's tallest building.
Alain Robert even navigating the tapered spire that extends beyond the top floors of the 2,717ft Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
For once the 48-year-old daredevil used a rope and harness to comply with organisers' requirements in the Gulf sheikhdom.
An ambulance, with a stretcher at the ready, was parked alongside other emergency vehicles at the Burj's base.
Mr Robert has climbed more than 70 skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building, Chicago's Willis Tower and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
He conquered Taiwan's Taipei 101, which before the Burj was the world's tallest building, in 2004.
The tower's owner, Emaar Properties described Mr Robert's six hour climb as "momentous" and said he "scaled the exterior of the tower in a record-clinching feat".
Mr Robert had hoped to go all the way to the top, but said it would be difficult to go past about 700 meters freehand, because of the spire's tapered design.
In the end, he scrambled up the spire quickly and hung triumphantly from the top.
Hundreds of spectators, their necks craned, crowded plazas outside shopping centres and restaurants at the tower's sprawling base.
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