N-polar, Ga-polar, and non-polar GaN was grown by MBE and MOVPE using various substrates and influence of polarity has been investigated. The GaN growth by MOVPE is along cplane (0001), c-plane (0001), and a-plane (11-20) direction on c-plane (0001), a-plane (11-20) and r-plane (1-102) sapphire substrate respectively. The polarity of the film has a strong influence on the morphology and the optical properties of PA-MBE grown As-doped GaN layers. Strong blue emission from As-doped GaN was observed only in the case of N-polarity (000-1) layers, which was attributed to the highest concentration of Ga dangling bonds for this polarity of a GaN surface.