 The creative director and choreographer was Kim Gavin , with Es Devlin responsible for design and David Arnold as musical director . When Arnold was announced in his role he said that doing the closing ceremony was an honour and a once @-@ in @-@ a @-@ lifetime opportunity . While Gavin stated that he was really excited and honoured to be involved . Davlin said that she was delighted to be part of the " greatest show on earth " . Hugh Robertson , Minister for Sport and the Olympics , stated that he was delighted to have a high @-@ quality team working on the ceremony . While Boris Johnson stated that we have the best of British creating the bookends to our Games . Stephen Daldry was the executive producer and Mark Fisher was in charge of production design . The ceremony cost £ 20 million , with the artists paid just £ 1 for contractual purposes . Around 4 @,@ 100 performers took part , comprising 3 @,@ 500 adult volunteers , 380 schoolchildren from the six original host boroughs , and 250 professionals . There had been around 15 rehearsals for the volunteers at the Three Mills Studio and at a full @-@ scale site in Dagenham , East London . 
