In 1995 I took a picture of the Millennium Countdown Clock in front of the Pompidou Center in the Beaubourg area of Paris. I learned that on the stroke of midnight, year 2000 there was to be a "surprise" when the clock finally counted down to zero. What was that "surprise"?

"Later, the Pompidou Center put up a huge digital clock that counted the seconds to the year 2000, in the billions at first."

Looks like the clock was stolen and replaced by a billboard, though I doubt that the theft was the surprise.

"Therefore, on April 6, 1997, with 1000 days to go before the year 2000, just below the second étage of the Tour Eiffel, a giant, electric-light scoreboard goes up, showing daily the countdown. 954 AVANT L’AN 2000."

http://www.theaugeanstables.com/essays-on-france/198/