Went to Rio in 2015 and took this shot while eating breakfast in the hotel. You'll find that most hotels along Copacabana beach have restaurants that overlook the beach. Apparently it's not safe to hang out on the beach when it's dark and probably not wise to be taking a time lapse with your camera, so I'm glad I was able to do it from the comfort of the hotel. Though there seem to be quite a number of people out and about that it probably would have been ok.
But then again just google Copacabana fight or robbery and a whole slew of videos pop up.