burj khalifa (, "khalifa tower") is an extremely tall skyscraper in dubai, united arab emirates named after khalifa bin zayed al nahyan, and is the tallest building ever built, at . before the building opened, it was called burj dubai. the building is 162 stories high. construction of the tower was started on 6 january 2004, and the building was officially opened on 4 january 2010, almost 6 years later. it is the tallest structure made by humans in the world. the building is more than taller than taipei 101. taipei 101 was the tallest building until 2010 before burj khalifa was built.