DIY Dubai: Emirates Launches TV Gameshow Parody Video

Emirates has launched a new video that takes a playful yet impressive look behind the scenes of its monumental retrofit programme - a $5 billion investment to completely refurbish the interiors of 219 aircraft.

Ensuring every customer has an exceptional ‘fly better’ experience in the sky, the video is a parody of popular home renovation TV gameshows. It also adds a touch of humour while depicting the Emirates team working together, against the very real scale of the world’s largest aviation retrofit project.

The storyline follows an Emirates Captain and his family, who choose to refurbish the Boeing 777 aircraft instead of their home on a gameshow called ‘Do It Yourself Dubai’. The Captain is thrilled as the scene cuts away to Emirates Engineering facility, where a team of engineers are on hand to undertake the retrofit work – the biggest ‘DIY’ project ever seen in aviation.

From May 2026, the video will be in full flight across the world, reminding customers that Emirates provides an unrivalled travel experience onboard with sleek and luxurious interiors, comfortable seats, award-winning inflight entertainment, regionally inspired cuisine and acclaimed beverages, and world class cabin crew.

Customers can experience the exact aircraft shown in the video for themselves - the retrofitted 777-300ER or retrofitted 777-200LR – now flying to and from Dubai across 40 destinations, with 10 more to follow soon.

The 40 destinations are Athens, Barcelona, Basra, Beijing, Beirut, Bogotá, Boston, Brussels, Cape Town, Chicago, Colombo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dammam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kochi, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, and Lisbon.

Others are London, Madrid, Malé, Manama, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Mumbai, Newark, Phuket, Riyadh, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tokyo and Vienna. The next 10 destinations are Addis Ababa, Brisbane, Karachi, Milan, Mauritius, Narita, Singapore, Taipei, Tehran and Ho Chi Minh City.

With the humorous idea for a game show and ‘DIY Dubai’ developed in-house at Emirates, the production was filmed in a studio in Prague and onboard real aircraft in Emirates’ hub of Dubai.

A cast of actors were hired to represent Emirates’ diverse teams, and the video was produced by Framestore Pictures in London with direction from William Bartlett and Simon Willows.