JERSEY CITY — Sometime around sunset on July 4, the national anthem will start to play, setting off a carefully choreographed fireworks display above the Hudson River. The production clocks in at 20 minutes and 30 seconds (give or take a few seconds) and includes thousands of individual fireworks launching from barges on the river.

For years, the fireworks bursting above the Hudson have served as a bridge connecting both sides of the river on Independence Day, but the event, sponsored by Macy’s, had been put on by New York City. Now, though, the looming Manhattan skyline is intended to be the backdrop, as thousands of people gather on Jersey City’s waterfront for a daylong event.

“What else could you ask for on the Fourth of July?” said Phil Grucci, the chief executive and creative director of Fireworks by Grucci, the company his family has owned for six generations, starting in Italy in 1850. The company produces fireworks displays across the country for the Fourth, and for the past several years, that has included Jersey City. When city officials came to the company, Mr. Grucci said, they asked for a show that would put them on “a national-class level, not a municipal, smaller-type performance.”

Jersey City had once been known as mostly working class and industrial, shaded by New York’s shadow. But in recent years, the city has boomed with a rush of upscale development and a swell of new residents, with officials positioning the city as an alternative for professionals living in Manhattan and Brooklyn.