For the first time in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, the opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium.

The Paris 2024 Olympics will use the city’s iconic Seine River as the stage to showcase a performance of 400 dancers, 3000 artists and 10,500 athletes on 94 boats along a six-kilometre stretch 0f water.

To be watched by a global audience of an estimated two billion people, Olympics organisers promise this mammoth production will be the “biggest TV show ever produced”.

A few days out from the ceremony on Friday (AEST Saturday, July 27), artistic director Thomas Jolly, 42, says he was overwhelmed to be tapped two years ago to helm the artistic direction of the opening and closing ceremonies.

‘Absolute creation’

“I wondered how I could create a show where everyone can feel represented as part of this great union,” he said, standing on the 16th-floor balcony of a luxury hotel overlooking the river.

“An opening ceremony has never been held outside of a stadium … there is no model … it’s absolute creation.

“This responsibility was ambitious, complex, but magnificent for an artist.”

Joined by the head of the Paris 2024 organising committee Tony Estanguet, who is also giving interviews in the hotel, Jolly, with cigarette in hand, gestures towards the Seine as they discussed final details on July 21.

Estanguet nods in agreement.

What those details are remains a mystery, with the award-winning theatre director Jolly simply saying he wants to share France with the world, determined to play with and subvert French stereotypes, believing that opening ceremonies often tell the story of a country.

“When we watch Emily in Paris or Amélie Poulain, we know it’s not quite the real Paris. We’re going to play with all those cliches, but we’re also going to challenge them,” said Jolly, who is also directing the Paralympics ceremonies.

What to expect

Unlike in all Olympic host cities, there will be no full dress rehearsal before Friday (local time), with rehearsals all held in secret locations scattered across France over the past year.

Variety reports the performers have been practising in airline hangars “using technology, developed specifically for the occasion, that recreates the full … stretch of the Seine”.

The mystery prompted some wild speculation, with the most audacious theories positing the use of submarines in the Seine.

Celine Dion, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura have also been rumoured to perform.

Gaga is a likely starter after waving to fans outside her Paris hotel this week as her signature instrument on stage, a grand piano, was seen under wraps on a floating barge.

“I’ll be fired if I tell you anything,” Jolly said.

“All I can tell you is that it will be very meaningful for the artists that will perform.”

Celebration of inclusion and diversity

With boats for each national delegation – and fitted with cameras to allow TV and online audiences an up close with athletes – the open-air parade starts at the Austerlitz Bridge (AEST 3am), journeys around two islands and under several bridges and gateways to the ceremony’s finale at the Trocadéro.

Sunshine is expected in the morning, but showers are forecast for the afternoon and evening, with temperatures about 26 degrees for the four-hour spectacle.

The ceremony will be attended by 300,000 people, most of whom have been invited, with the organisers intent on celebrating inclusion and diversity.

The original plan was to have a 100 per cent free ceremony, with millions watching the parade from the riverbanks.

Those ambitions were dialled down by the French government, who feared security threats in a city that has had major extremist attacks as recently as 2015.

Spectator stands, boats and barricades along the River Seine. Photo: AAP

‘Big fresco’

Jolly is no stranger to major projects in France, producing a 24-hour Shakespearean tetralogy in 2022 and reviving the favourite musical Starmania.

For this opening ceremony, he envisaged a giant ballet in 12 acts with hundreds of dancers stationed on the bridges that span the Seine as the boats float down the river.

For the first time, Jolly says athletes will take part in the artistic show, overturning the traditional ceremony structure of three separate elements.

He’s combining the artistic show, the athletes procession and the protocol into one “big fresco”.

‘Eager to share’

“France is a story that never stops being constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed.

“Paris is also a vibrant youth. Different cultures rubbing shoulders in the streets.”

This dynamism, he believes, fuels the country’s reputation for protests and strikes – manifestations of France’s constant re-examination of its identity and values.

“It’s alive, it remains alive,” Jolly said.

He plans to pay tribute to France’s creativity in science fiction, literature, cinema, video games and comics.

“I find myself relaxed, and that’s pretty amazing, because normally, when I’m approaching a premiere, I’m a lot more stressed and anxious,” he added to Variety.

“But I’m so looking forward to this, so eager to share.

“The sheer size of this project, and the incredible team that put it together have left me in a state of relative serenity – but I’m still impatient to get on with the show!”.

Host broadcaster Nine will begin 24-hour coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Saturday with the opening ceremony at 3am AEST on Nine and 9Gem.

​Subscribers to Stan Sport will get access to ad-free, live and on demand of all 329 events across 40 individual sport channels, four feature and eight international/multi-language channels.

ABC radio will broadcast from Friday across various ABC capital city and regional stations.