Heavy rain stopped just minutes before the start, allowing Qatar to execute a colourful three-hour extravaganza in front of 55,000 spectators packed into Khalifa Stadium and a worldwide television audience of three billion.

The stadium was transformed into a giant "sea" as one man set sail from Qatar peninsula protected by his falcon and guided by a powerful light to discover Asia.

For the next hour, an enthralled capacity crowd witnessed Asia's varying cultures that included dancers from Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Indonesia's Bali as well as Chinese opera singers and Japanese geisha.

An enormous gold and red cloth representing the Silk Road stretched through the stadium followed by six giant ornate caravans, representing the regions of Asia, and their colourful, dancing troupes.

Celebrating the skills of the desert region's horsemen, 64 riders in white tribal dress and carrying penants performed a detailed routine on Arabian horseback, to roars of aproval from the crowd.

Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani opened the 15th and largest ever Games with thousands of athletes from 45 countries to compete in 39 sports.

"The United Nations has emphasised the importance of sport in achieving peace..," his son, Crown Prince Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, told the crowd, saying this was an important aim of the Games.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya were among those attending.

As they looked on, Bollywood singer Sunidhi Chauhan sang of harmony and unity, before 1,900 Qatari school children ran into the stadium carrying illuminated doves to form the words peace in Arabic and English.

The field was again transformed, this time into a giant "Arabian majlis" or reception room with enormous cushions and Arabian coffee pots, to welcome the athletes as Cantopop king Jacky Cheung sang Together Now.

Huge cheers greeted into the arena the Iraqi team who are entering these Games for the first time in 20 years despite endless carnage and uncertainty in their war-ravaged country.

The Palestinian territories and Lebanon were also warmly received along with athletes from Afghanistan, suffering their worst 12 months of bloodshed since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban.

However, the biggest reception was reserved for hosts Qatar who marched in to a standing ovation.

In a symbolic gesture, athletes from South and North Korea entered together under a neutral banner showing a simple picture of their peninsula. Chances of a joint team here soured when the communist North conducted a nuclear weapons test on October 9, raising tensions in the region.

Badminton champion Bao Chunlai carried the flag for China's huge delegation seeking to top the medal table for the seventh consecutive time since 1982.

A Doha resident, who brought his wife and children, said he thought the ceremony had been a great spectacle. "We are very proud for Qatar," he said.

Organisers had billed it as the most spectacular ever, eclipsing the Sydney 2000 Olympics which Australian company David Atkins Enterprises was also responsible for.

Qatar has spent more than 2.8 billion dollars building new stadiums and infrastructure for the Games, the first held in the Gulf region and only the second in the Middle East. Iran was host in 1974.

The Games run until December 15.