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The ruler of Dubai is H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Prime Minister of the federation of the United Arab Emirates. The crown prince is H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, one of the emir's younger brothers.

Dubai has become an important tourist destination, helped by its rapidly-expanding airline Emirates, which is headed by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, an uncle of the emir. Dubai is also diversifying as a hub for service based industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre or DIFC. The government has set up enclaves and freezones for industry specific corporations. Dubai Internet City, now combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave and houses IT companies such as EMC Corporation, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, Reuters and AP.

The International Media Production Zone is a project targeted at creating a hub for printers, publishers, media production companies, and related industry segments. This project was launched in 2003 and is estimated to be completed by 2006.

There was a pearl-diving and fishing community at the mouth of Dubai Creek for many centuries, but modern Dubai dates its existence to the 1830s when the Baniyas tribe under the Al-Maktoum family settled there and renounced allegiance to Abu Dhabi. Successive sheikhs encouraged contacts with outsiders, especially the British, who made Dubai a regular port of call.

Non-Muslims in the country are free to practice their religion but may not proselytize publicly or distribute religious literature. The Government follows a policy of tolerance towards non-Muslim religions and, in practice, interferes very little in the religious activities of non-Muslims.

The first villa freehold properties that were occupied by non-UAE nationals were The Meadows, The Springs and The Lakes, all masterplanned communities designed by Emaar, resulting in luxurious upperclass neighbourhoods collectively known as Emirates Hills. Over the 2005-2006 time frame, most of the freehold skycrapers and other villa projects will be ready for occupation, sparking a new phase in Dubai's history as a city.

The Dubai Post Department took over the postal service June 14, 1963 and the following day issued a series of stamps depicting sea life, views of Dubai, and Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. This was the opening salvo of a barrage of issue over the next few years; the emirate discovered that stamp collectors were willing to give it money for colored labels with "Dubai" printed on them, and by the time the postal system was merged with that of other emirates, in mid-1972, it had issued over 400 stamps, few of which ever saw usage on mail.