Fireworks lit the sky over the Olympic Stadium Friday during the opening ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Performers took part in the opening ceremony.

The show was produced by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle.

Great Britain's cyclist Bradley Wiggins, winner of this year’s Tour de France, greeted spectators.

Members of the audience took photographs before the opening ceremony.

Media members took shelter from the rain.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camila, Duchess of Cornwall, arrived for the show.

The Red Arrows flew over the Olympic Stadium in London.

Parts of the show portrayed Britain as a place of meadows and farms.

Some 15,000 volunteers took part in the spectacle.

The program mixed filmed sequences with live action.

Performers took part in the show.

The show included scenes from movies and popular children's literature.

Performers dressed as famed movie character Mary Poppins took flight during the show.

This sequence was meant to represent Britain's National Health Service.

Spectators waved Union Flags, commonly known as Union Jacks, during the ceremony.

A fan watched the opening ceremony.

The London 2012 Olympic Games run through August 12.

The show "was a wonderful contemporary spectacle of extraordinary tone, production, and entertainment," wrote the Globe's Chad Finn.

Members of the US delegation took part in the event.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, waved during the festivities.

Fireworks illuminated the sky over the Olympic Stadium.

Up to 60,000 people watched the event in the Olympic Stadium.

Seven young athletes carried the torch during the ceremony.

The stems lit by the young athletes rose to form the Olympic cauldron.