New Years Eve is full of celebration, dancing, and, of course, the Ball Drop. However, the 1999 Ball Drop in particular held much anticipation and fear for many New Years Eve celebrators around the globe.

On this day, December 31st, in 1999, businesses across the world prepared for the Y2K disaster, where computer systems around the world were rumored to stop working at midnight.

Computer systems usually abbreviated year dates to only two digits. At the turn of the century, many people worried that the computer systems wouldn’t know how to adjust. An estimated $300 billion was spent preparing for the Y2K crisis in the United States. An additional $13 billion was spent in 2000 and 2001 in order to fix problems with the computer systems. Worldwide, an estimated $308 billlion was invested in Y2K bug fixes.