Faked Fireworks: I Want To Believe

Cai Guo-Qiang, who recently had a Guggenheim retrospective, is an artist who often works with fireworks and explosions. Cai was tapped to create the fireworks for the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

It's now being reported that the fireworks broadcasted for the opening ceremony were digitally inserted. Bill Paschke of the LA Times wrote in his blog (BBC tv reporter James Reynolds also blogged about the faked fireworks):

I also thought it was odd that, while everybody back home was praising the fireworks displays, those of us in the stadium saw nothing more than your average Friday night post-Angels-game display.

Well, turns out, many of the fireworks seen on television were digitally created because, according to officials, the smog was too bad for anyone to see the real ones anyway.

I wonder if digitally created is right, or if digitally inserted is more correct (i.e., was the firework display ever real--perhaps from a rehersal, or are they completely fabricated)?