About 2.3 million people thronged Rio de Janeiro's iconic Copacabana Beach for a raucous celebration as 24 tonnes of fireworks launched offshore lit up the sky.
Europe joined in the party with a giant salvo in London, after Dubai attempted to break the world record for the biggest fireworks show and Sydney got the ball rolling ahead of Asia with a dazzling display.
In London, huge cheers went up as parliament's clock tower chimed in 2014, as people packed the banks of the River Thames to watch the pyrotechnics at the London Eye observation wheel.
About 50,000 took part in "the world's first multi-sensory fireworks display", when peach snow, edible banana confetti and orange-scented bubbles descended on a section of the crowd.
In Dubai, the Middle East hub was attempting to break the Guinness World record by setting off more than 400,000 fireworks.
The glittering display lasted around six minutes and spanned 100 kilometres of the coast, focusing on the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower at 830 metres high.
People crowded in the streets below took pictures as the thundering display filled the skies.
"It's amazing," said May Hinnawi, a 35-year-old Syrian. "I will tell my children and grandchildren I was here to see this event."
In Europe, Berliners partied at the Brandenburg Gate, while hundreds of thousands in Paris thronged the Champs Elysees.
Russians got two different versions of President Vladimir Putin's New Year address after a "technical glitch" meant its Far East watched an earlier pre-recorded tape that made no mention of the Volgograd suicide attacks.
Thousands of cheering Spaniards in Madrid saw in 2014 by gobbling down twelve grapes - one with each clock chime - in a New Year tradition.
Latvia officially adopted the euro currency at the stroke of midnight, making the former Soviet state of two million people the 18th member of the crisis-hit eurozone.
In Ukraine, tens of thousands saw in the new year at Kiev's Independence Square, the centre of mass protests for the past month after Kiev ditched a pact for closer ties with the EU.
One man was killed by fireworks in The Netherlands, Austria and France.
Kiribati and Samoa in the Pacific were the first to see in the New Year at 2100 AEDT on Tuesday, in a wave of celebrations that will finish on the US' remote Howland and Baker Islands at 2300 AEDT on Wednesday.
In Antarctica, the Akademik Shokalskiy ship rang in the New Year with a special song lamenting the "great shame we are still stuck here", after a week trapped in the ice.
Hong Kong's skyscrapers were lit up by a dazzling eight-minute pyrotechnics show fired from a one-kilometre line of barges.
An estimated 400,000 revellers packed the shoreline, while teenagers gathered with signs offering "free hugs" to passers-by.
In Japan, millions visited local temples and shrines to greet the new year with contemplation and to pray for peace for relatives.
For areas ravaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, celebrations were muted.
In the ruined farming village of San Isidro, residents are still grappling with the overpowering stench of death as 1400 corpses stacked in black body bags lay in a field, more than seven weeks after the tragedy.
In Singapore, thousands of white spheres were launched on Marina Bay, holding residents' wishes for 2014.
In Indonesia's sharia stronghold of Banda Aceh, New Year's Eve celebrations were banned for the first time. Islamic police seized thousands of firecrackers and cardboard trumpets.
Mumbai revellers celebrated a court victory which pushed back closing time in bars and restaurants to 5.00am instead of 1.30am.
In Africa, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita wished his countrymen "peace, nothing but peace" following a turbulent year.
South Africa bade farewell to 2013 with a 3D video send-off of Nelson Mandela as the country entered the New Year without its beloved icon.
SYDNEY ANNOUNCES 2014 WITH SYNCHRONSED EXPLOSION
A dazzling fireworks display capped Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations on Sydney Harbour as hundreds of thousands of onlookers saw in 2014.
The harbour exploded in a kaleidoscope of colour at midnight as fireworks launched from seven barges mesmerised the revellers that packed foreshore vantage points.
The show marked the third pyrotechnic spectacular on Sydney Harbour this New Year's Eve, with city skies also lighting up at for eight minutes 9pm (AEST) and a one-off 60 second show at 10pm.
In the 12-minute midnight show of red, gold, blue, and green fireworks morphed into swirls, wheels and comets as they launched off the the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sydney announced 2014 with a synchronised explosion across the harbour, including 1000 fireworks shot from the Opera House sails, as well as glittering waterfalls of fire that cascaded over the harbour.
For a moment the seven tonnes of coloured fireworks seemed to turn the city's cloudy night into bright day.
Malin Schumacher, 19, said the midnight display was worth the 10-hour wait.
"You think I'm joking, but I did start to cry. I was overwhelmed," the Swedish tourist told AAP.
"You have fireworks in Sweden, but there's nothing compared to this - the view, the energy, the people."
This year's top secret bridge effect, a highlight of the midnight display, was a 12 storey high, 72 metre wide neon eye that seemed to peer around the harbour.
Had the eye opened just a couple of hours earlier, it may have spotted the more than 100 seafairing revellers who had to be helped to safety when their boats began sinking in the harbour.
In Victoria, more than 500,000 revellers packed the city centre to see 7.5 tonnes of fireworks launched into the sky from 22 locations, including city rooftops, by a team of 44 pyrotechnists.
Police in both states were out in force on the night at celebration hot spots.
An ever present threat of rain took nothing away from the largest fireworks show in the city's history.
The skies above the river city were lit up by 30,000 pyrotechnic effects fired from three barges and three city rooftops at 8.30pm and midnight.
Thousands of people braved cold weather in Canberra's Civic Square to hail the New Year with music and fireworks launched form City Hill and the roof of the Canberra Theatre Centre.
In Tasmania, tens of thousands converged on the waterfront and Salamanca, where the state's biggest food festival, Taste, combined with the finish of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Partygoers who weren't napping after a night of gorging on fine food witnessed fireworks exploding over the docks at midnight.
South Australia sang in the new year with live music in Adelaide's Elder Park, where local bands provided the entertainment, along with a fireworks display.
The new year will prove dangerous for some, with residents in parts of regional South Australia urged by authorities to leave their homes and seek safety as "catastrophic" fire danger conditions are predicted for January 1.
Western Australia largely left its patch of sky alone on the night, with Perth saving up its big pyrotechnics display for Australia Day.
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