The flight was arriving from the Indian city of Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, a popular destination for UK tourists.
Among 300 passengers and crew who escaped alive from the Boeing 777 as it burned were 24 Britons.
One firefighter was killed in the blaze.
News footage showed the aircraft appearing to land on its belly, with no undercarriage deployed.
An eyewitness report said the aircraft had made a normal approach and had attempted to do a ‘go around’ but had then failed to climb having retracted the undercarriage.
Weather reports from Dubai mentioned wind shear, a condition that means heavy downdrafts that can be dangerous when a flight is attempting to land.
Dubai airport has now reopened, but there may still be some knock-on effects for passengers globally.
Some delays are being shown for flights to Dubai leaving Heathrow, including the cancellation of a lunchtime Qantas departure.
Manchester’s morning departure from Emirates was also cancelled.
Emirates said in a statement: "Emirates flight EK521 was involved in an operational incident upon landing at Dubai International Airport at approximately 12.45pm local time.
"The Boeing aircraft was delivered to Emirates in March 2003.
"Both the Captain and the First Officer have over seven thousand hours of flying experience each.
"Emirates is fully collaborating with local authorities to determine the cause of the incident.
"Due to this incident, Dubai International Airport was closed for a few hours and a number of flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted.
"Dubai International Airport gradually started to resume operations at approximately 6.30pm local time (on Wednesday)."
Emirates said passengers holding tickets purchased on or before August 3 can rebook or cancel their bookings at no charge.