From the base of the building to the very top—which includes a spire and antenna—the Burj Khalifa is 2,722 feet, or a little over a half of a mile. Still, this wasn’t always the case.

You have to wonder what John Harris would make of Dubai. The Burj Khalifa’s shimmering spire, the millionaires’ villas on the Palm Islands, the Marina’s forest of skyscrapers – what would ...