An opera containing a scene in which the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad is depicted has opened under heavy security in Germany's capital, Berlin.

Mozart and the German Opera in Berlin remain in the glare of publicity over the modern staging of "Idomeneo," a 225-year-old opera.

The modern staging has become caught up in cultural tensions between the Islamic world and the West because it features the severed heads of the great teachers of world religion, including the Prophet Muhammad.