One of the many challenges of building a skyscraper is dealing with sewage that free falls 1,000 feet to the ground: The liquid ends up falling so fast that it makes loud clangs all the way down. The solution? Install S-bends in the pipes to slow down the falling sewage.

Once the sewage reaches ground floor, skyscrapers in Dubai have another transportation problem. Dubai has no central sewer system, so sewage is taken by the truckload to the city's only treatment plant. The city's infrastructure just hasn't grown as fast as the city itself, and trucks waiting for hours in line will sometimes dump their loads into stormwater drains. That's how raw sewage is finding its way onto luxury beaches.