The world greeted 2016 with champagne and cheers, but tightened security put a damper on the party in Europe and a spectacular fire at a hotel in Dubai scared gathering revellers.

Fireworks were cancelled in Brussels and Paris as November's terror attacks cast a pall.

At the stroke of midnight the skies lit up with pyrotechnics in Sydney, traditionally the first to host a major New Year's bash, as crowds thronged to waterside vantage points.

Tens of thousands of revellers gathered on either side of Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbour, which was bathed in a dazzling fireworks display.

In Dubai, a huge fire ripped through a luxury hotel, the Address Downtown, near the world's tallest tower where people were gathering to watch New Year's Eve celebrations. All residents were safely evacuated, police said, and the emirate's government said celebrations would go ahead as planned.

The chimes of midnight will move across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

In the heart of Europe, more than 100,000 police were to be deployed throughout France to guard celebrations that come six weeks after the jihadist attacks in Paris.

Annual festivities and fireworks in Brussels were cancelled as the Belgian capital -- home to NATO and the European Union -- remains on high alert.

"It's better not to take any risks," Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said.

Belgian officials are battling terror on two fronts -- with police today holding five people over an alleged New Year attack plot in Brussels as well as arresting a tenth suspect over the Paris attacks.

Paris, still reeling from the November 13 slaughter of 130 people, has also cancelled its main fireworks display on the Champs Elysees avenue.

But authorities agreed France's biggest public gathering since the attacks can go ahead on the famous boulevard, with bolstered security.

"The people of Paris and France need this symbolic passage into the New Year," said Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.

"After what our city has lived through, we have to send a signal to the world," she told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and other Asian cities may rival Sydney's pyrotechnic splash, but Brunei will offer a sober evening after banning Christmas in a shift to hardline Islamic law.

Jakarta remains on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

Turkish police have detained two Islamic State suspects allegedly planning to stage attacks in the centre of the capital Ankara which is expected to be packed on New Year's Eve.