Rio 2016: Final opening ceremony rehearsal a 'disaster'

The director of the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is hoping his team perform when it counts.

Fernando Meirelles said on Friday that an overly casual atmosphere led to a mistake-filled run-through on Wednesday, but he is hoping the performers got it out of their systems.

"We had a very bad rehearsal two days ago, our last rehearsal was a disaster - this might be a good thing, everyone is now very aware," Meirelles said.

"We were very relaxed then we had this rehearsal and everything went wrong, so now everybody is very intense."

Meirelles is best known for directing 'The Constant Gardener' and 'City of God'.

The 60-year-old said he resisted overtures to direct the opening ceremony in his home country for six months before giving in.

While obviously a different environment than he is accustomed to working in, some of the process aligned with moviemaking - most notably constant battles over the budget.

"During the last two years I regretted several times and almost quit one or two times because the budget kept going down, down, down," he said.

"We had the show then we had to start from scratch, three times. This show is the fourth one.

"Now it's all good. I am happy, it's done. Let's see what happens."