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No food or drink was allowed within three feet of the statues in the American Wing's Charles Engelhard Court. The dinner buffet featured dim sum, miso-glazed black cod, marinated filet of beef, and a variety of salads.

The performance lineup included host Scott Bakula, R&B icon Bettye LaVette, Glee star Matthew Morrison, musical duo the Civil Wars, and soprano Anna Christy.

A 60-foot-wide elevated dance floor was the focal point of the 124,000-square-foot party space, and a six-foot-diameter mirror ball was suspended over the center of the platform.

To create a feeling of intimacy in the expansive Engelhard Court, Avila and his team lowered the ceiling to 14 feet by hanging nearly 200,000 stems of wisteria overhead. Guests called to dinner via Chinese gongs found de Gournay hand-painted wallpaper created by traditional Chinese artists covering the Central Park-facing windows.

As a subtle way to decorate the ceiling of Astor Hall, Bentley Meeker projected imagery of the night sky, with slow-moving clouds.

As part of the Smirnoff Experience series of events in 2010, Mosaic Experiential Marketing placed graphic illustrations in the windows of Toronto's Andrew Richard Designs. The illustrations depicted comic book characters arriving at a party, mimicking the arrival of guests on the red carpet.

New York's Robin Hood Foundation, which hosts one of the largest and most successful benefits in the city, tapped contacts at DC Comics to help create a superhero theme for its 2011 gala. The planning and design team created an emblem and slogan—"the forces of good are gathering"—that marked the night's invite and main cocktail area.

Comic-book-style images can be turned into live installations at events. Animated graphics and videos at the 2011 Robin Hood Foundation gala, helped add energy—and eye-catching decor—to the cocktail area of the 3,000-person fund-raiser.