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Dubai's gross domestic product as of 2005 was US$37 billion. Although Dubai's economy was built on the back of the oil industry, revenues from oil and natural gas currently account for less than 6% of the emirate's revenues.

It is estimated that Dubai produces 240,000 barrels of oil a day and substantial quantities of gas from offshore fields. The emirate's share in UAE's gas revenues is about 2%. Dubai's oil reserves have diminished significantly and are expected to be exhausted in 20 years. Real Estate and Construction (22.6%), Trade (16%), entrepôt (15%) and financial services (11%) are the largest contributors to Dubai's economy. Dubai's top re-exporting countries include Iran (US$ 790 million), India (US$ 204 million) and Saudi Arabia (US$ 194 million). The emirate's top importing countries are Japan (US$ 1.5 billion), China (US$ 1.4 billion) and the United States (US$ 1.4 billion).

Historically, Dubai and its twin across the Dubai creek, Deira (independent of Dubai City at that time), became important ports of call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centres were headquartered in the port area. Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. Dubai has a free trade in gold and until the 1990s, was the hub of a "brisk smuggling trade" of gold ingots to India, where gold import was restricted.

Dubai's Jebel Ali port, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbour in the world and was ranked eighth globally for the volume of container traffic it supports. Dubai is also developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the establishment of industry-specific free zones throughout the city. Dubai Internet City, combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave whose members include IT firms such as EMC Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, BBC, Reuters, Sky News and AP.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was established in March 2000 as a secondary market for trading securities and bonds, both local and foreign. As of fourth quarter 2006, its trading volume stood at about 400 billion shares, worth US$ 95 billion in total. The DFM had a market capitalisation of about US$ 87 billion. The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based, but oil-reliant, economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented has made real estate more valuable, resulting in the property appreciation from 2004-2006. A longer-term assessment, however, shows property depreciation: certain properties lost 64% of their value from 2001 to November 2008. Large scale real estate development projects have led to the construction of some of the tallest skyscrapers and largest projects in the world such as the Emirates Towers, the Burj Dubai, the Palm Islands and the world's second tallest, and most expensive hotel, the Burj Al Arab.

Dubai real estate market took a major drawback in the recent months, due to the slowing economic climate. Mohammed al-Abbar council of the sheik told the international press in December 2008 that Emaar had credits of US$ 70 billions and the state of Dubai additional US$ 10 billions while holding estimated 350 billion in real estate assets. By early 2009, the situation had worsened with the global economic crisis taking a heavy toll on property values, construction and employment. As of February 2009 Dubai's foreign debt is estimated at apprx. USD 100 billion, leaving each of the emirate's 250,000 UAE nationals responsible for 400,000 USD in foreign debt each.