Meanwhile, the US government has said Saudi Arabian individuals continue to fund militants across the world.

BBC: NEWS | Middle East | Saudi forces 'arrest militants'

There is also racing of purebred Arabian salukis, the slender sight-hound that is one of the world's most ancient breeds of domesticated dog, as well as handicrafts displays.

CNN: Head turners of the desert: A camel beauty pageant in the UAE

Port Talbot-born Vicari, who lives in Monaco, was once court painter to the Saudi Arabian royal family and government and is often described as one of the world's richest living artists.

BBC: Wales star Shane stops for artist

The museum's collection vividly charts Dubai's rapid progress from a tiny pre-oil fishing and pearling village - and one of the world's first free-trade ports - through to the Arabian metropolis it is today.

BBC: The Dubai Museum: Charting the rise of the emirate

For a more recent, if similarly calamitous, manifestation of the power of chaos theory, consider how different the world would be today had not a devout, soft-spoken Saudi Arabian engineer inherited a significant fortune from his estranged father.

FORBES: Horsemeat for Dinner, Banksters under the Bed, and the Future of the Human Condition

Mumbai, the fourth-largest city in the world, is home to 20 million people and fans out along the coast of the Arabian Sea as an ever-growing megalopolis.

BBC: Living in: Mumbai