The married couple I work for on Saturdays go to Dubai for Christmas every year. They love it - but wouldn't consider relocating there as they have a young daughter and are concerned about prospects for her in an Arab country.
My male boss, is ex RAF and worked in the Middle East in the aerospace industry for years. He has often raised the point that Arab men are arrogant, difficult to train and believe they are above most types of work. I appreciate this is a generalisation, but it comes directly from his experience.
He often found that training was shrugged off, "Do you understand?" "Yes, yes, yes!" and then expensive equipment would be damaged because the man in question had NO idea what he was doing. This happened on a regular basis, which was why so many foreign staff were employed and the contracts were so lucrative.
I can't imagine teaching English as a foreign language would be very rewarding there - it would be difficult for you to get a position teaching women, and if the men are as described you would have an uphill struggle.
Bar work may also be difficult to come by - although Dubai is incredibly lax by UAE standards, I understand alcohol is still mostly bought by tourists and ex-pats. These jobs will therefore be high tipping positions (low paid and highly sought after). I may be wrong here - I'm going on second hand information and my experience in another Muslim country.
Western men
are treated with respect, as although Dubai has been an important trading port for centuries, the extreme wealth is relatively recent. Therefore there is a certain cachet for them in paying Westerners to work for them. As previously mentioned this does not extend to women. They really are seem as second class citizens, and Western women even lower due to their supposed lax morals. Although the city is a reasonably eclectic mix of nationalities you need to remember it is still the UAE and human rights are routinely denied.
On the other hand if you have the money to enjoy it, Dubai is as described by other posters - absolutely hyper with anything available any time. Apparently the shopping is amazing (not my bag personally) as are the sports facilities.
It's frontier land in many ways, if the frontier was ever this well funded I mean. Personally I'd take the chance and go - it will be an experience to remember whatever happens
