Film stars Whoopi Goldberg and Sarah Jessica Parker joined Rivers' daughter Melissa and grandson Cooper at the hour-long, private service at Temple Emanu-El on 5th Avenue.
Comedian Kathy Griffin also attended alongside tycoon Donald Trump, TV legend Barbara Walters and Rivers' co-host on TV show Fashion Police Kelly Osbourne.
The service at one of America's oldest reform synagogues was by invitation only.
Police shut down the sidewalk and PR women armed with clipboards checked guests' IDs.
A huge scrum of paparazzi, TV cameras and journalists camped out across the street and hundreds of fans lined the street five or six deep to watch guests arrive from behind metal railings.
Rivers, 81, died on Thursday in hospital a week after she stopped breathing during a medical procedure on her vocal cords at a private clinic.
In her 2013 book I Hate Everyone... Starting With Me, she said she wanted "a huge showbiz affair with lights, camera, action" - the paragraph of which was re-produced inside the funeral program.
"I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way," she wrote.
Actor Hugh Jackman sang - reportedly Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage - and Broadway actress Audra McDonald also performed.
The service opened with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus and closed with the bagpipe band of New York City Police Department.
Tributes came from Melissa, friend Margie Stern and gossip columnist Cindy Adams.
Melissa, wearing a black dress and large black sunglasses, was cheered by Rivers' fans as she pulled away in a black limo after the service.
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