The ceremony on Wednesday began with a video which starred Philip Craven, a British wheelchair athlete who competed in five Paralympic games from 1972 to 1988.
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Flag bearer Bradley Ness led the Australian team into the arena.
The run-up to the Games was also overshadowed by slow ticket sales.
The IOC chief said he had to miss the ceremony to attend a state mourning ceremony in Germany for Walter Scheel, the former West Germany president.
Empty seats and half-empty stadiums was one of the headlines the Olympic Games could never quite escape from.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Russia would organise alternative competitive events on September 8-9, for the barred Russian Paralympic team and the awards for the athletes would be equal to those promised at the 2016 Rio Games.
But organizers have reported a dramatic turnaround in the last few days.
“The Russian team is one of the strongest teams in the world, and I am confident that you will demonstrate your skills, persistence, dedication and determination to victory”, the president’s address to the Russian athletes said.
“We’ll soon be over the 1.7 million mark”.
“Two weeks ago I said we faced unprecedented circumstances and since then we’ve seen unprecedented teamwork”, Craven told a news conference.
Later, disabled dancer and Paralympic athlete Amy Purdy showed why machines can not replace the creativity and spontaneity of humans by winning a dance-off against a robot.
Today the Opening Ceremony got underway with the 21-year old at the forefront of the NZ athletes carrying the national flag.
More than 4300 athletes from 159 nations, plus two refugees in an independent team, are prepared to perform to the peak of their physical capabilities and change perceptions of what is possible. Russia, second on the medals table at London 2012 behind China and ahead of Great Britain, are absent following a report into state-sponsored doping.
The record of 41 career gold medals won by blind American swimmer Trischa Zorn between 1980 and 2004 looks unbeatable, but the Paralympics will inevitably produce new stars.
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The paralympians will compete in seven disciplines, while workshops on 11 other sports will be held in the framework of the Games.
