By the Gods!

The tower of Babel in THE BIBLE: THE BEGINNING...(1966)

This scene is well executed. The bottom of the image (see below) is were the large scale set and all the live action stuff occurred and everything else above that is a matte painting by Silio Romagnoli. I made a composite of this scene, with three screengrabs edited together. The final scene is a great shot and still holds up beautifully in HD. Spectacular.

As for the authenticity of the design, according to archeologists and historians, that's a whole different matter.

Everything in this frame is real. No special effects or CGI.