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The culprit behind the extreme rainfall is likely to be a mesoscale convective system. MCSs are formed when a team of individual thunderstorms cluster together and cover a large area, from a few hundred to a few thousand kilometres wide, and typically last for several hours or even days, bringing heavy rainfall, hail, lightning, strong winds and even tornadoes and dust storms.
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Luckily the storms were well forecast, up to a week in advance, showing just how important early warning systems are. However, the intensity of the downpours did spark stories about cloud seeding.

Yes, the UAE does have an operational cloud seeding programme, not a surprise given the predominantly arid nature of the region. Cloud seeding usually involves spreading fine particles into individual developing clouds that wouldn’t normally lead to rain. Small planes burning salt flares fly through the developing clouds, hoping that the tiny particles produced will act as cloud condensation nuclei and trigger the formation of water droplets and eventually rain.

But in this case, the clouds were part of a large weather system advancing across the region, and already predicted to produce substantial amounts of rain across a wide area. Any possible effect from cloud seeding would be tiny in comparison. So the tales of cloud seeding simply don’t make sense, and are a distraction from the most likely guilty party — climate change. The UAE National Centre of Meteorology later confirmed that no cloud seeding mission had taken place.

https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/dubai-floods-and-cloud-seeding