I'm going to guess at LOADS of lift shafts pulling beautifully clean Oxygenated air.
Mix that with a 'Fire Panel' where the operator is either unavailable, or busy 'getting the fudge out of there'..... I cannot speak for the system within this building, but the software would normally suggest (once fire is confirmed) drenching a floor below, and 2 or 3 floors above.
Quite obviously. none of this has happened. Sadly, I doubt we'll get any true report.
With a report of zero fatalities I think the core fire protection must have worked - fire proof doors or lobbies would have prevented the lift shafts acting as chimneys and the sprinkler system doesn't require somebody at a fire control panel to operate it - each sprinkler head is designed to go off if the temperature rises above 70 degC, the drench system you described would be very unusual.
Buildings in the UAE tend to be designed to American codes, the fire protection would have been designed to NFPA standards.
A fire in the cladding is likely to have bypassed the sprinkler system. Perhaps somebody decided that there was no significant risk of the cladding ever being set alight

The fire control panels are used to switch ventilation fans on to pressurise escape staircases during a fire and to clear smoke from an area once the fire has been extinguished.