"More than 6,500 costumes for the Khalifa Stadium spectacular are being prepared," Angela McCann, PR manager of David Atkins Enterprises (DAE), told Xinhua via the telephone.

The Australia-based DAE was commissioned to conceive, create and produce and direct the opening and closing ceremonies for the Dec. 1-15 Games. This follows the company's success on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies, and the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony.

In order to fulfill Doha's dream of hosting "The Best Asian Games Ever", the costume designers have spent the last two years researching various cultures that will be part of the Doha 2006 family, before beginning to design the elaborate array of costumes.

"The designers are working with the local talents to ensure that Arabic costumes are authentic and true to form," said McCann.

"The extraordinary collection of costumes have been made and sourced from Doha, Sydney, Melbourne, Shanghai, Bangkok, Cairo, Damascus and Hong Kong, etc."

Some 6,000 performers will appear in the opening ceremony, and costumes had to be made before fittings with the performers, so each costume has been made to be adjustable, said McCann.

"They were designed not only for theatrical effect but for flexibility, ease of movement and comfort for the performers - particularly dancers, aerialists and acrobats," she said.