Neil Patrick Harris had explosive wedding surprise, he tells Letterman

Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka were pleasantly surprised by their own fireworks show during their Italian wedding earlier this month.

The “How I Met Your Mother” star, who wed Burtka in Perugia, shared a few more wedding details when he stopped by “Late Show” on Wednesday to tout his memoir, “Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography,” and the upcoming film “Gone Girl.”

He also drew a few comparisons to that other big Italian wedding this month -- George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin’s -- but we’ll get to that later.

Harris said that he and Burtka chose their locale because it was where they took their first trip together.

“At the beginning of the year we knew a friend of a friend [who] knew a dude who had a castle,” the actor said, adding that the event included about 50 people and had a puzzle-like theme.

“Live!” host Kelly Ripa, “HIMYM” director Pam Fryman, their twins Gideon and Harper and singer Elton John were among the attendees.

“Elton John sang a few songs, which is super cool. He’s a friend and I didn’t expect that, so that was overwhelming. And then he introduced our first dance, which was super fun,” he said, impersonating the British singer and sharing a snapshot from the moment.

The 41-year-old explained that the first dance was to Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This” because they loved “American Idol’s” first season and its winner. They also had a little something special in store for their guests.

“We had it planned that we have [a] firework guy. And so when the song crescendos ... fireworks were supposed to go off. Very exciting, right?” Harris said. “But, you know, we’re in a tiny town in Italy so I’m figuring that the local fireworks dude, I don’t think he’s going to be exactly timed to the second ... and sure enough it happened perfectly.”

The Tony Award winner said their photographer captured the couple’s remarkable reactions to the well-timed explosion -- another snapshot that Harris shared with Letterman and his audience.

“Take that, Clooney!” Harris exclaimed. “I don’t see you showing pictures of your wedding on talk shows!”

Nope, but the Oscar winner and his wife did share theirs with the world via People and Hello!, with the money going to a good cause. More on that here.

Barney Stinson always has a guy. Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.