Ferris, nothing personal meant. It was just last night was the worst night I have seen coming in to Dubai by far. I am sure there were reasons that I don't know. I'm sure you don't sit planning how to screw up my approach!
But the constant changes and with the limited (obvious) traffic in front of us (we were told we were no. 3 and took over 20 minutes delay) then when finally cleared to find 25 miles separation, it was all pretty frustrating! The area guy was obviously under a lot of stress and a bit flustered by it all as half a dozen more aircraft arrived right behind us. Unfortunately one of my colleagues wasn't making it any easier for him either - sorry
Re DXB runways. Second runway (12R/30L) has been closed about a week now, although it was open the other morning (8am peak) to facilitate departures. So yes they certainly use 2 runways when they can.