Smoking a rollie in the sun by Sydney Harbour is master pyrotechnician Fortunato Foti. Waiting on the water nearby are barges loaded with some seven tonnes of fireworks, with comets and shells to be shot into the sky in the shapes of smiley faces and hearts that fizzle then fade.

"I've got to give it up, it's too expensive," Mr Foti says, glancing at his cigarette. "I do make a point of not smoking while mixing gunpowder," he assures.

Is there a more sombre sight than a firework waiting to explode? But even here, where Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations are assembled by concrete docks and wire fences, are flashes of colour: of orange safety vests marked "Pyro Crew" and canary-yellow skip bins and bright aqua portaloos. "One year we had a portaloo blow off the barge into the water," says Mr Foti, wearing dark sunglasses and a red bandanna. "It was empty, thankfully."

This annual spectacle is conceived around the Foti family table over coffee. The challenge is to make each show different from the last. "Fireworks is not something that's tangible, it's not something you can pin up on the wall and say 'Yeah, that looks pretty'," he says. "We try to do half a dozen things that people haven't seen before, because that's what will stick in their mind."

New this year, lighting up the sky above the harbour – where 1.6 million people are expected to gather – will be gold palm trees and crackling silver umbrellas. Scattered showers are forecast but not enough to stop the shows at 9pm and midnight, plus a 90-second flurry at 10.40pm – for all those who refuse to wait three hours for anything any more.

The $750,000 fireworks extravaganza boasts 11,000 shells and 25,000 shooting comets. The total toll of Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations will be $7.2 million, up from $6.8 million last year – go hang Treasurer Joe Hockey's Age of Opportunity.

The media were invited to a preview of the fireworks program by the harbour on Monday morning. Once there, female TV reporters are made to swap heels for heavy black work boots. Mr Foti steps onto a barge under the glaring sun – the scourge of fireworks shows – where explosives are wrapped inside racks of mortar tubes. The tubes are topped with heavy-duty alfoil, like the most dangerous packed lunch you'll never have. From them will shoot bursts of fiery colour – bright reds, greens and purples, lemon, magenta and sky blue.

Mr Foti recalls firecracker nights as a child, setting off catherine wheels in the backyard in Campbelltown. "It is one of those things that does bring a smile to people's faces," he says.

The theme of this year's event is "Inspire" – but to do what? Actor turned "creative ambassador" Jack Thompson says it's a celebration of this city and its people. He recalls a poem by his father, John, who saw Sydney-siders as an "unabashed people": "yarning, gibing, protesting about what's right or wrong with us"; hurrying or sauntering to work; "hemmed by irascible cars".

We rebel against the "great city" but wouldn't live elsewhere. "It is very important to recognise just what we do have and just where we do live and to celebrate that – its beauty, its friendship," Jack Thompson says.

"If you're not proud to be in Sydney, you probably haven't opened your eyes."