As negotiations became more heated in recent months, and as the economic situation in Dubai worsened, one or two banks even went so far as to insist on being paid before the bondholders, according to the person involved in the negotiations.

After Dubai World raised $5 billion from Abu Dhabi banks on Wednesday, it was in a position to pay the $3.5 billion to the holders of its Islamic bond by Dec. 14. Instead, the company decided to call a halt in payments to make clear to the holders of its debt that they had to work together or risk not being paid at all.

It was the high-finance equivalent of mutually assured destruction. For the bankers, not to be paid would raise the prospect of more write-downs at a time when the industry has absorbed more than a trillion dollars in losses related to bad mortgages and is still recovering.

But the maneuver was also risky for Dubai, jeopardizing its reputation as a sound credit risk. And in the end, it led to the debt crisis that is playing out here.

Some analysts say any announcement on restructuring the debt is unlikely to come soon. Much of the six-month stay that Dubai asked for on its payments of the $3.5 billion bond is likely to pass as Dubai and creditors hash out which assets can be sold to raise cash, how much of a restructuring fee should be paid to bankers and most crucially, how much more time Dubai will get.

Through June 2013, Dubai World owes about $27 billion to banks and bond holders. It is not clear which banks were so insistent upon being paid early, but according to a recent report by Morgan Stanley, the three banks with the largest exposures to the United Arab Emirates as a whole are HSBC at $16 billion, Standard Chartered at $8 billion and Barclays at $4 billion.

Compounding this uncertainty was an announcement by Barclays Capital on Monday that the asset value of one of Dubai World’s prime commercial properties in London, the Adelphi building, had sunk below the level of its debt.