The A350 has cracked open the possibility of extreme range non stop flights, at the moment limited to premium passengers because of the inability to carry a standard cabin with the fuel required. As technology improves it may be possible to fly these ranges with normal cabins opening up huge numbers of possible routes. Dubai's success is down to the fact that it's possible to fly non stop from Dubai to anywhere with modern aircraft such as the B777, which means that any two points on earth can be connected via Dubai.
In the 1970s, Bahrain was an important fuel stop as aircraft didn't have much range, once the B744 came on the scene it could easily be overflown by aircraft going to the far east. Gulf Air could easily have been Emirates if they'd taken advantage of their position and utilized the capabilities that the new generation of aircraft held.
However ULH is very inefficient fuel wise as fuel is simply dead weight costing money to fly until it's actually burnt in the engines releasing its energy. Typically a ton of fuel on departure gives around 250 kgs available at the end of the flight, 3/4 of it being used just to carry it along. A lot depends on the price of oil and improvements in aircraft performance, in thirty years time London to Sydney non stop with a standard mix of passengers may be routine. Stopping in Dubai for long haul flight connections might get to be as common as refueling in Shannon prior to crossing the Atlantic, though it is likely to retain importance on routes which can't support direct services.