All of the footprints were at least partially detonated that night. Those on the scene saw them. But what TV viewers saw was an animated three-dimensional studio re-creation, Gao Xiaolong, visual-effects team leader at the Crystal Stone animation company, told the Beijing Times.
Only the last "footprint" closest to the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, was seen by viewers and locals in real time.
"Most viewers thought these were live shots, so our work achieved its effect," Gao said.
His studio spent nearly a year crafting the clip. To make it as visually seamless as possible, Crystal Stone consulted with the weather bureau to re-create Beijing haze at night, and the shot included a slight shaking to simulate shooting from a helicopter.
Olympic broadcaster NBC -- the network on which the live entertainment show "Saturday Night Live" was infamously exposed for allowing singer Ashlee Simpson to lip-sync a vocal performance in 2004 -- said it had been candid with viewers that the fireworks they were watching were, in fact, pre-produced in a studio.
"We said earlier that aspects of this opening ceremony are almost like cinema in real time," announcer Bob Costas told his audience. "Well this is quite literally cinematic."
The vast majority of Chinese, many of whom have no Internet access and live in rural areas, were pleased and impressed by the result of the opening extravaganza, produced by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, which they saw as a moment of national glory.
"There are too many things to be taken care of; it's understandable that errors will occur," said an anonymous posting on 163.com.
But other Internet postings complained about the show's expense, its aesthetics, and organizers apparently misrepresenting some elements to the public in their quest for perfection.
China's propaganda ministry moved in Tuesday, deleting many online discussion entries and blocking access to video links showing Miaoke's lip-syncing.
The Beijing organizers weren't the first to use lip-syncing for an Olympic performance. The late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, in great pain from pancreatic cancer, did so at the Turin Winter Games in 2006, although the voice that was heard was his own.
But China has suffered a string of recent scandals involving fake news stories, bogus photos of a rare South China tiger and a sham TV report that vendors filled dumplings with cardboard. Social experts bemoan the lack of morality or trust among government agencies, companies and individuals.
