The general public just has four days to prepare for Guy Fawkes - with fireworks on sale from the 2nd of November until the 5th - but pyrotechnic artists take months to plan for Guy Fawkes and for other fireworks extravaganzas.
Waikato-based Martin Van Tiel owns Van Tiel Pyrotechnics - and has been responsible for some of the biggest fireworks displays New Zealand has seen, including the Auckland Millennium celebration and the Rugby World Cup 2011 final.
He tells Emile Donovan about how he went from a PhD in chemistry to fireworks, and about the computer technology that can cue a firework within one one-hundredth of a second.
Photo: BBC screenshot
