Forgot to add in...the one thing that really separates itself from its city/state counterparts (e.g, Hong Kong, Singapore) it the multiculturalism. Singapore's inhabitants may be of many different races/religions, but overall -- the culture has been somewhat homogenized in that most everyone acts/dresses the same way (very Western).
Walking around Dubai, you'll see a mix of Westerners, Indian/Pakistani, Middle Easterners, and Africans. However, people seem comfortable allowing others to retain their native culture and religion and do not appear to feel the need to impose their beliefs.
For instance, the locals don't seem to care if a westerner wears an outfit from H&M or Zara and drinks alcoholic beverages; and ex-pats don't care if Muslims wear traditional head coverings/attend their prayer sessions 5 times a day; and more importantly, the reverse (at least that's the way it appears to be). While this seems perfectly normal to someone that was raised in the US or Europe, its a big deal in the Middle East.
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