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By Jeff Capellini
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Terrorism and the Y2K computer virus were the big concerns heading into the last New Year's Eve of the 20th century. New Yorkers were understandably worried about both.

Would there be an attack at the world's most recognizable site for New Year's celebrations? Would every computer suddenly stop functioning, sending the infrastructure of our daily lives into chaos?

Luckily, the answer was no on both counts.

New Year's Eve 2000 attracted an estimated 2 million people from all corners of the planet to Times Square, making an already congested celebration that much more insane.

Click here to see a story on the diversity of the crowd in Times Square

Revelers arrived at the site in the early morning hours of Dec. 31, but, due to strict rules enforced by the New York Police Department, were forced to stay primarily in the same spot within the barricades all day, leading up to the ball drop at midnight.

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Click here to see a story on early arrivals to Times Square

Click here to see a story about people waiting long hours in the cold

Party-goers didn't appear to mind too much as they spent the day bundled up while they toasted the New Year in all the different time zones. By the time the countdown got close to midnight on the East Coast those who were taking a nap were jarred back into consciousness as the world's greatest party kicked into full swing.

Click here to see a story on the final hour before the ball dropped

The police presence was extraordinary, highlighted by the presence of riot police and sand trucks, brought in to respond to car bomb attacks.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had his hands full in the days leading up to the big night, culminating with the authorization of more than 19,000 of the NYPD's Finest to work the streets. In addition to thousands of officers in Times Square, Giuliani had special units guarding landmarks, including the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, as well as bridges and tunnels.

Click here to see a story on the overwhelming police presence in NYC on New Year's Eve

As for the dreaded Y2K virus, the initial fear it caused was squashed by hardware and software experts long before it had a chance to crash the party.

According to an article on the Web site PCMAG.com, the basic problem existed because of the inability of older hardware and software to recognize the century change in a date. The reason they could not, it was widely believed, was because the year was stored with only two digits; for example, 1-16-71 instead of 1-16-1971. Thus, when the year changed from 1999 to 2000, the date would supposedly become 01-01-00, and the system would present the date as Jan. 1, 1900.

The uproar this caused in the cyber world was palpable. People feared their systems would crash, effectively ending their abilities to do certain things online, like pay bills.

In the end, though, the experts did what needed to be done to alleviate the problem and, a few minor incidents of sabotage aside, kept cyberspace on cruise control.

Click here to see a story on the aftermath of the Y2K virus

None of that seemed to matter to the masses packed into Times Square like sardines. With people as far as high-powered news cameras could see, the countdown to the new millennium built to a crescendo. Mayor Giuliani activated the ball drop from a platform and a clock on an enormous video screen started ticking away. Inside the final 30 seconds sound almost had feel.

Click here to see an extended clip of the ball dropping in Times Square

When the clock finally struck zero and the ball lit up the "2000" sign fireworks shot into the sky and it wasn't long before all of Times Square and presumably several more blocks in every direction were engulfed by a sea of confetti.

Thoughts of terrorism and debilitating computer viruses had been put on the back burner, at least for one night.

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