FIRST LOOK. Here's how the massive white ballroom dome of Dancing with the Stars SA on M-Net, specially constructed on a shopping mall roof, looks from the outside.

Ring-fenced by green astro turf and white picket fences, TVwithThinus can reveal this first exclusive up-close look of the Dancing with the Stars South Africa ballroom dome built on the roof of the Hyde Park Corner shopping centre in Johannesburg from where the show will kick off its new season on M-Net (DStv 101) on Sunday evening at 17:00.

Last month TVwithThinus exclusively revealed the elevated new location of Dancing with the Stars SA with Rapid Blue that is again producing the glitter floor format show from BBC Worldwide.

The show has been retitled from Strictly Come Dancing SA that was broadcast for 8 seasons on SABC2 and later SABC3.

Constructed in record time, the new Dancing with the Stars SA utilises about 2 500 square metres of floor space for the production with the marquee dome encapsulating a newly constructed ballroom dancing floor, a judges' table, and an ensconced orchestra area surrounded by concentric beams and framed by twin staircases on either side.

It also has a seating area for the live show's in-audience ballroom spectators.

The press was given a tour of the glitzy-ritzy inside of Dancing with the Stars SA on Friday evening, followed by a media briefing and then an exclusive, invitation-only cocktail media launch inside the Hyde Park Corner centre.

M-Net asked that the media not reveal more than a teaser photo of the look of the ballroom inside, so as to not spoil the surprise for viewers when Dancing with the Stars SA kicks off on Sunday evening.

The domed ballroom's interior and the dance floor looks spectacular - razzmatazz-ed in shimmering gold and silver, lighting in amber hues (that can change), and with a reflective mirror ball hanging centre-top.

Everything is bathed in an extensive multi- strobe light and visual system that's also capable of projecting images onto the dance floor.

"Dancing With The Stars SA is unique in that we've essentially recreating a ballroom, and all the action takes place on a competition standard, 15 x 9 ballroom floor, with the audience seated around it on either side and at the front of the house – almost like a horse-shoe," Kee-Leen Irvine, executive producer, told TVwithThinus.

Outside, multiple industrial air-conditioners are plugged into the big white edifice that has several large double doors to get equipment, the studio audience and guests, the presenters and production crew, as well as the contestants, quickly in and out.