Seven is the magic number this New Year's Eve, and fireworks maestro Jim Souza likes it even better with "00" in front of it.

"I looked at the title, 'America's Party 2007,' and said, 'That's 007 to me,' " Souza says of the decision to orchestrate the Strip's fireworks celebration to a medley of James Bond themes.

But it's coincidental that the pyrotechnics will ring in the new year from seven rooftops instead of 10: the MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, Flamingo, Treasure Island, Venetian, Circus-Circus and Stratosphere.

The Stardust has closed, and Bally's and the Excalibur drop off the list of participating rooftops. Keeping all seven casinos north of Tropicana Avenue might allow more of the Strip to remain open to vehicle traffic between Tropicana and Russell Road. (The decision will be made at the last minute, based on turnout).

Marquees along the Strip will be synchronized to display the countdown to midnight, but those really wanting to hear the Bond songs should bring a radio to tune to KOMP-FM 92.3 or KXPT-FM 97.1.

"Each one of those song performances are different," says Souza, head of the California-based Pyro Spectaculars by Souza. The family business will oversee about 30 New Year's Eve fireworks displays, including San Francisco's and the one at Seattle's Space Needle. But Las Vegas is "the largest show in the nation for New Year's."

Like the new movie Bond, fireworks are still blunt instruments. But computers now help design the shows and simulate the displays to within a 10th of a second.

About 75 pyrotechnists will oversee the blasting of roughly 50,000 effects. About 200,000 pounds of launching equipment has to be carted up to the rooftops.

Souza says he scouts the world for new chemicals that produce new colors and different effects. "I'm already trying to figure out what I'm going to do for '08, because this one's such a good one," he says.