If you missed the opening ceremony at this year’s Olympic Winter 2018 games or would like to know more about how Intel used more than 1,200 remote-controlled drones to create an amazing light show. You are sure to be interested in the video embedded below provides provides an insight into the preparation and design that went into the Winter Olympics opening drone show.

The drones used in the opening Olympic ceremony were Intel’s Shooting Stars that measure approximately 12 inches long and weigh roughly eight ounces each and are equipped with batteries enabling them to fly for up to 20 minutes on a single charge. The synchronise drone show at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter games at PyeongChang, South Korea was a record-breaking performance.

If you were among the millions of people that watched NBC’s replay of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea on Friday, February 9, you might have seen an airborne snowboarder, a bird flapping its wings, and the  iconic  Olympic Rings light up the skies. While they may have appeared to be digital fireworks, the  mesmerizing  show was the result of thousands of tiny drones  preprogrammed  to follow  complicated  flight paths to form the shape-shifting images.

The drones, created by US  semiconductor  manufacturer Intel Corp., were first introduced to the world in 2015 in a stunning light show  synchronized  to the sounds of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In addition to impressing the audience, the seven-minute  spectacle,  recorded over the Ahrenlohe Airfield near Hamburg, Germany, featured 100 drones, setting a new Guinness World Record for the Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne  simultaneously . In November 2016, the  technology  giant did it again, this time, with a fleet of 500 re- designed  lightweight  drones. Dubbed Shooting Stars, they were controlled by one person using a single computer.

Though impressive, neither shows compare to the most recent performance in South Korea, which involved a total of 1,218 Shooting Star drones. While the record-breaking light show was to be live to television viewers, it had been  prerecorded  over the Olympic Stadium in December Intel officials said they did not want to risk flying the large number of quadcopters over the thousands of  spectators  and athletes present at the opening ceremony. They had, however, originally planned to launch a reduced version of the show, featuring 300 drones, at Unfortunately, it had been be canceled at the last minute due to an ” impromptu  logistical change.”  Nevertheless, the company did set yet another world record for the most UAVs airborne at the same time.

Designed  specifically  for light shows, the Shooting Star drones are made from  flexible  plastic and  foam  and weigh a mere 330 grams – slightly more than a volleyball. They can stay airborne for between 5 – 8 minutes and, thanks to their built-in LED lights Programmed using the company’s  proprietary  algorithms , the entire fleet can be controlled by one person using a single laptop. The best part, of course, is that that that conventional fireworks shows, the battery-powered quadcopters do not  pollute  the air!