It's a new year in New York! A roaring Times Square crowd rings in 2014 as clocks strike midnight on America's East Coast

Happy New Year! Fireworks light up the sky above Times Square in New York City at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day

The biggest party in the world was held at midnight - with bright fireworks bursting into skies and confetti falling down across the globe as nations hailed the start of 2014.

Bone chilling temperatures couldn't keep ecstatic partiers out of Times Square in New York City to watch Miley Cyrus twerk in the New Year at America's largest New Year's celebration.

The brave revelers got their frigid wait's worth with an awe inspiring performance and pyrotechnic display that proved once again that Times Square is the most exciting place to be when a New Year dawns on America's shores.

Crowded: The sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing humanity that filled the Crossroads of the World was part celebration, part endurance sport

Smooches: Miranda Echerarria and Christian Prieto, of Niagra, New York kiss at the stroke of midnight during the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square

An ecstatic celebrant tosses handfuls of colorful confetti onto the roaring Times Square crowds

It's 2014! A cloud of confetti shrouds 1 Times Square, where the ball dropped as it does every year to mark the new year in New York City

The partygoers arrived early in the day, braving temperatures in the 20s to stand in metal pens for hours.

By midnight, some one million people were expected to be on hand for Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge and hip-hop artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and the dropping of the 11,875-pound, crystal-encrusted ball marking the start of the new year.

And each year, the New York Police Department assigns thousands of extra patrols to festivities - in ways seen and unseen - to control the crowd and watch for any signs of trouble.

That's different: Miley Cyrus arrived for her much anticipated performance wearing lots of sequins and with a little person in tow

Twerking in the New Year: Miley Cyrus headlined the annual Times Square New Year celebration

Personality of the year: The 20-year-old brought her trademark free-wheeling attitude, as well as dancers dressed as the number 2014

'We've got adult diapers. We're wearing them right now,' said teenager Amber Woods, who came with friends from the New York City's suburbs to experience the event for the first time. They entered their corral at 10 a.m. For nourishment, they brought lollipops and popcorn. For the cold, they did a lot of jumping in place.

'Every time I say, it's the last. But then I come back,' said Yasmina Merrir, a Washington, D.C., resident attending her fourth Times Square ball drop. In 2009, the cold was so bad, she got hypothermia. Her legs swelled up like balloons. Read more: dailymail.co.uk