def flatten_arguments(args):
    """
    Converts dictionary argument to a list.

    Note: we add "IGNORED" at the beginning as this value is ignored by the argparser

    Example: {"arg1": "value1", "arg2": "value2"} -> ["IGNORED", "arg1", "value1", "arg2", "value2"]
    """
    return ["IGNORED"] + [item for key_value in args.items() for item in key_value if item != ""]