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Tom Cruise's 14 Mission: Impossible Stunts Ranked By Most Dangerous

Mission impossible movies ranked - from the 1996 original to dead reckoning part 1, mission: impossible 8 - release date, story & everything we know about dead reckoning part 2.

• Cruise's Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a defining, heart-stopping moment for the franchise.
• With dangerous stunts like the HALO jump in Fallout, the Burj Khalifa climb remains Cruise's most famous feat.
• From carefully fixing harnesses to rigorous training, the Burj Khalifa stunt was a logistical nightmare that paid off well.

The Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a defining moment for the franchise, but audiences wonder if Tom Cruise climbs the Burj Khalifa in real life. With a growing list of extremely dangerous stunts on his resume, scaling Burj Khalifa's exterior in the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible franchise is one of Cruise's most famous feats of courage. Since then, Cruise has continued to defy death in multiple movies with stunts like Mission Impossible: Fallout 's HALO jump. Still, the Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt has become a cinema landmark.

Ghost Protocol takes Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt to Dubai in search of nuclear launch codes after Kurt Hendricks, a.k.a. Cobalt (Michael Nyquist), steals a devastating weapon. It's obvious by now that Hunt never takes the easy route. Ethan must reach the 130th floor of the 2,722 ft skyscraper and ditch the elevator in favor of a pair of questionable suction gloves. Starting the climb 123 floors up is the easy part as he then rappels down the building and makes a jump of faith. The Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt is one of the most intense and thrilling scenes ever.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+

Tom Cruise continues to perform his own dangerous stunts for the Mission: Impossible movies, each death-defying sequence upstaging the last.

Tom Cruise's Burj Khalifa Stunt Explained

The actor was equipped with a harness that was fixed to strategic points on the building.

For the Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt, the actor had to be equipped with a harness that was carefully fixed to strategic points in the building , which required that the studio get special permits to drill on the floors and walls, and the Mission: Impossible 4 crew broke 35 windows . Director Brad Bird ( The Incredible s) consulted with multiple professionals from different areas like engineers, pro climbers, and stuntmen to ensure the safety of the shoot. He even considered using a dedicated stuntman, but, as he's done for the majority of his career, Cruise did his own Mission: Impossible 4 stunts.

Tom Cruise didn't know that the tight harness would cut off his circulation, so the shoot had to be completed as efficiently and quickly as possible. Otherwise, his lower body would start feeling numb. The helicopters that were shooting had a flight limit of 30 minutes at a time too, so the crew had to make every take count. The sequence was also shot in IMAX, which meant that the cameras would run out of film fast. The footage had to be flown back to Los Angeles, and Bird couldn't check if everything was perfect until the film was developed.

The training for the Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt was also extremely thorough and calculated. The crew built a wall of glass to simulate the exterior of the real building and had Tom Cruise climb up and down several times to get him familiarized with the discomfort of the harness and the physical toll of the climb. They went so far as to heat up the wall with artificial lights to simulate the temperature of the windows of the Burj Khalifa. The stunt was a logistical nightmare, but the planning all paid off.

Mission: Impossible is one of the most consistent movie franchises out there, but we've accepted the nearly-impossible task of ranking them.

Why Tom Cruise On Burj Khalifa Is The Best Mission Impossible Stunt

The stunt is like a live-action incredibles scene.

Tom Cruise always does his own Mission: Impossible stunts , including hanging off a plane, holding his breath for six minutes to perform an underwater heist, and conducting 109 HALO jumps to get the perfect shot. But of all these movie stunts, the iconic Burj Khalifa sequence is the best proof of the actor's dedication to his craft. The Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol scene is the most nail-biting sequence for audiences, and it was extremely dangerous, exhausting, and probably terrifying for Cruise himself.

Nevertheless, the results are impressive, to say the least; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has one of the best stunt scenes caught on camera. Having scaled the side of the world's tallest building – for real – grants eternal franchise bragging rights for any self-respecting action series. The stunt plays out like a live-action Incredibles scene too, as the sequence is layered with clever action comedy, such as the suction gloves having a mind of their own. The Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt has an equal balance of edge-of-your-seat thrills and laugh-out-loud comedy, which few other Mission: Impossible stunts have.

The Mission: Impossible 8 release date is set for 2025, and there's intense speculation on what's next for Ethan Hunt after Dead Reckoning Part One.

Was The Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa Stunt His Most Dangerous?

The motorcycle jump in mission: impossible - dead reckoning as arguably more dangerous.

Following the Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa stunt, the actor performed more stunts that were just as dangerous. In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Cruise hung onto the side of a plane as it took off. The actor also held his breath underwater for a record-breaking 6 minutes (that's until the record was broken by Kate Winslet in Avatar: The Way of Water ). Following that, Cruise committed to a HALO jump for Mission: Impossible - Fallout . The HALO jump was so dangerous that Henry Cavill wasn't allowed to take part because it would have put Cruise's life at risk (via AutoEvolution ).

However, the motorcycle jump in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 was the actor's most dangerous stunt yet . It would have been impossible to foresee where the bike would land when Cruise let go, and so many other things that the production couldn't properly plan for. Accurately conducting a risk assessment of the scene must have been the most frustrating part of the movie's development. The impossible-to-determine physics, along with controlling a vehicle in mid-air and being dangerously close to rocks on a cliff edge, makes Cruise's motorcycle jump the most dangerous stunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Tom Cruise has injured himself a number of times due to his commitment to performing his own stunts (via MovieWeb ).

However, it's comical to compare the Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol stunt and the motorcycle-parachute stunt, as neither are things that anybody should ever attempt. Nevertheless, Cruise competes with himself, and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2 could feature his two most dangerous stunts yet. Mission: Impossible 8 features a water stunt in which Cruise could claim back his breath-holding record from Winslet. The upcoming movie also features another airplane stunt, only this time it isn't taking off but is sky-high. Either way, Mission: Impossible's stunts are almost equally dangerous, and Cruise is happily risking his life for the audience's entertainment.

Sources: AutoEvolution , MovieWeb

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

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The fourth film in the franchise, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, is an action-thriller film set years after the events of Mission: Impossible 3. It sees Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) see themselves falsely accused of a crime. Following a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, the IMF is implicated in the attack, forcing the government to disavow knowledge of them. To clear their names and find the true culprit, the United States initiates the "Ghost Protocol," forcing them all to go off the grid with no support to solve the case.

• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

The Film Bandit

How tom cruise pulled off the burj khalifa stunt in ‘ghost protocol’.

When moviegoers think of the unforgettable action scenes from the Mission Impossible movies, the Burj Khalifa stunt from Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol inevitably comes to mind. The incredible stunt features actor Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) scaling the world’s tallest building in Dubai. We take a behind-the-scenes look at what went into filming the stunt, one of the craziest scenes in Mission Impossible history.

Setting the Scene: Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Burj Khalifa , the 2,722-foot skyscraper and engineering marvel in Dubai, boasts 163 floors, including the 130th floor where the shoot for this jaw-dropping scene occurred. Not only is the Burj Khalifa an architectural landmark, but it’s also the backdrop for the fourth installment of Mission Impossible .

Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is on the prowl for Kurt Hendricks, played by Michael Nyqvist , in search of some nuclear launch codes. This will prevent a devastating weapon from falling into the wrong hands.

The Planning Phase

Creating the stunt began with an initial concept from director Brad Bird , who directed both Ratatouille and The Incredibles . Ghost Protocol was Bird’s directorial debut in live-action cinema, and his vision for the Burj Khalifa sequence was ambitious: Tom Cruise had to climb the exterior of the skyscraper. As a filmmaker, Bird wanted to film the scene in real time, with IMAX cameras capturing every jolt of every slipped hand for maximum viewer impact.

Cruise insisted on performing his own stunts, a hallmark of his work across the Mission Impossible franchise, so he took on the challenging Burj Khalifa stunt, forgoing the easy route of using a dedicated stuntman or doubles. As one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Cruise has performed a growing list of extremely dangerous stunts for the majority of his career, often pushing the limits of what an actor will do, from free climbing to a high-speed helicopter chase in Fallout .

Given the height and potential safety concerns involved, the safety of the shoot was extremely important. To ensure the scene could be filmed without a hitch, a comprehensive and coordinated effort was needed from the production team. Dubai Studio City , the city’s official film authority, helmed by Jamal Al Sharif , worked closely with the studio to manage a myriad of logistics. This process involved obtaining special permits, coordinating with the architects and full-time engineers of Burj Khalifa, ensuring that all safety codes were met.

The logistics of shooting on the Burj Khalifa’s exterior required innovative expertise. To begin, the production team had to build a glass wall around the area of the building where the shot would be taken. Professional climbers were employed to identify strategic points on the building where the rigging could be attached. To protect the Burj Khalifa’s facade, they had to find a way to break windows for rigging, without causing damage to other parts of the building.

Once the areas of the building were identified and the glass wall was erected, the team faced the next obstacle: rigging up the harnesses and cables that would keep Cruise safe. The actor was attached to a safety harness, which was then fastened to the side of the building itself. A variety of tools were used in the process, including a thin wire, a piece of cable, and a pair of suction gloves. Every component of the setup was meticulously brake-tested and inspected for any potential faults before Cruise was attached.

Beyond the physical setup, the shot required careful planning and coordination. This required a multitude of repetitions to make the stunt appear as smooth and natural as possible on the big screen. It required substantial training and preparation, even for a Hollywood star like Tom Cruise.

Training and Preparation

Before the shot was taken, Cruise underwent extensive training with stuntman, Gregg Smrz . This training involved Cruise learning how to perform an Australian rappel , a descent technique used by climbers, and learning how to maintain his grip on the glass finger holds.

In terms of mental preparation, Cruise employed a sort of Zen mindset, focusing on the task at hand, making sure his mind remained clear during the stunt. The ultimate goal was to allow Cruise to remain calm under pressure. Given the stakes, any minor mistake could have resulted in a grim call, so the stunt required his unwavering focus.

Shooting the Scene

The day of shooting brought with it the tension relief that the scene was finally underway. All the careful planning and rigorous training was about to be put to the test. Director Brad Bird and his crew were faced with numerous challenges during the shoot. One was to ensure that the live-action scene felt authentic. To do this, they employed real-time filming, using IMAX cameras to capture the action as it unfolded.

The scene, captured by the legendary cinematographer Robert Elswit , shows Cruise using a pair of special suction gloves to climb the building, holding on for dear life as he fights crosswinds and the relentless sun. Every frame of the sequence, from the wide shots showing the real dimensions of Burj Khalifa, to the close-ups that reveal the strain on Cruise’s face, adds to the impact of the scene.

One of the difficulties that arose during the shoot was the potential threat of a sandstorm. Given Dubai’s desert climate, a sandstorm could have disrupted the shooting schedule. Worse, it could pose a risk to Cruise and the rest of the crew working on the 130th floor of the skyscraper. However, with careful monitoring of weather conditions, they managed to work around this challenge and shoot the scene successfully.

Incorporating humor into this intense scene provided a touch of tension relief. Simon Pegg , who plays Benji Dunn in the movie, delivers a really funny line just before Cruise takes his jump of faith. This juxtaposition of humor and high-stakes action is a signature part of the Mission Impossible franchise.

Post-Production

After the scene was shot, the production team had to replace the windows that were broken during the shoot, making sure the Burj Khalifa returned to its original state. In the end, the sequence required the breaking and subsequent replacement of several windows. This was carefully managed to prevent any lasting damage to the architectural landmark.

Once the film was in post-production, the beauty of Dubai as a shooting location was enhanced through the use of high-quality sound and editing. The inclusion of the Burj Khalifa sequence in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol not only boosted the film’s advertisement but also highlighted the city of Dubai and the skyscraper itself.

The Impact and Legacy of the Tom Cruise Burj Khalifa Stunt

In the end, the shoot was beneficial for Dubai, putting the city and the Burj Khalifa on the map for many international viewers. With its pivotal role in Ghost Protocol , the skyscraper has become an iconic part of cinematic history.

Lastly, Tom Cruise’s commitment to performing his own stunts, combined with the willingness of the Mission Impossible team to push boundaries, resulted in an action sequence that is unforgettable, even now. The Burj Khalifa stunt is definitely one of Cruise’s most famous feats.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like Behind Tom Cruise’s Insane Rogue Nation Airplane Stunt.

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The Hilarious Story Behind Tom Cruise’s Iconic ‘Mission Impossible’ Stunt

"Only Tom!"

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Apparently, Tom Cruise was not pleased when told a Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol stunt was going to be created digitally and he had an unintentionally funny response…

Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s most successful actors. The 59-year-old is renowned for his many acting accolades, starring in the iconic film Top Gun , and for performing all of his own stunts .

And the stunt that Cruise is most famous for has a rather funny story behind it. We’re, of course, talking about the Burj Khalifa stunt Cruise pulled off for the film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol , which was released in 2011.

If you’re unfamiliar, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest tower in the world and in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol , Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt must scale the outside of the building to the 130th floor, retrieve nuclear codes and then repel down it. And Cruise insisted on performing the dangerous stunt himself.

But according to Joseph Kahn, the filmmaker best known for directing numerous Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and Eminem music videos, the original plan for the Burj Khalifa stunt was to CGI Cruise in. Taking to Twitter , Kahn wrote:

“Heard a great Tom Cruise story. On Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol they did an animatic of the Burj Khalifa sequence, explaining how there was going to be a digital Tom to do the stunts. Tom then angrily said “THERE IS NO DIGITAL TOM! JUST TOM!” So they shot it for real.” Joseph Kahn

Kahn went on to say that Robert Elswit, who was the director of photography for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol , told him this hilarious story about Cruise.

This alleged (and funny) response from Cruise does seem legitimate; especially when you consider that Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol ’s insurance company refused to insure the film if Cruise performed the Burj Khalifa stunt, so Cruise fired them and went and found an insurance company that would let him do the stunt.

In any case, whether Cruise actually said it or not, the line “There is no digital Tom! Only Tom!” is iconic.

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How Tom Cruise pulled off that 'Mission: Impossible 4' skyscraper climb and canceled his retirement from the blockbuster franchise

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As the star of the Mission: Impossible movie series, Tom Cruise has been pulling off impossible missions — and improbable stunts — for a quarter century and counting. From the 1996 franchise-starter to the currently filming seventh and eight installments, the first of which will hit theaters in 2022 , the actor's alter ego, super-agent Ethan Hunt, has traveled the globe and saved the world many times over.

But Cruise's license to thrill almost got revoked a decade ago in the fourth installment, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol . Directed by Brad Bird and released in theaters on Dec. 15, 2011, the movie was widely assumed at the time to be the star's final outing. In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Ghost Protocol stunt coordinator Gregg Smrz confirms that's how things went down in the original script, which features an extended climax where Ethan chases rogue nuclear strategist Kurt Hendricks (played by Michael Nyqvist) around a towering carpark.

"There was a point in the script when he's fighting Michael Nyqvist where he was supposed to get his leg broken," Smrz remembers now. "They wanted it hyper-extended at the knee, just shredded — end of career, you know? The studio was going to write him out, and Tom did not want it. He was strapping in his harness, looked at me and said, 'I ain't going nowhere.' Then he walked out on set and did his thing. We had [the leg break] all set and ready to go, and it disappeared."

Turns out that Cruise called his shot correctly. Far from becoming his last Mission: Impossible movie, Ghost Protocol relit the franchise's fuse with a mighty $210 million domestic box-office gross and a wave of ecstatic reviews. The movie also boasts a sequence that consistently ranks on or near the top of any list of the very best Mission: Impossible stunts : Ethan's nail-biting climb up the side of Dubai's world-famous Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

As stunt coordinator, Smrz — who first collaborated with Cruise on Mission: Impossible 2 — oversaw that scene and agrees that it's one for the record books. "I said to Brad, 'Do you have any idea what we're doing?'" he recalls. "'We're climbing 1,700 feet in the air, 200 feet up a building. This has never been done before, and it'll never be done again, because they're never going to allow it.' It's a work of art, and I don't think it can ever be beat as far as a climbing sequence on a building."

And as Smrz reveals, it's a stunt that very nearly didn't happen. Early on in pre-production, Paramount seemed poised to cancel Ghost Protocol outright before shooting started. "We had started prepping the building climb immediately on a studio lot, and were on the payroll for about before weeks when we heard that they were going to pull the plug. Tom went to have a meeting with [the studio] and we would know the outcome at the end of it."

Fortunately, Cruise emerged from that meeting with a greenlight, and Smrz and his team restarted preparations for pulling off the Burj Khalifa climb — a sequence that was always designed to serve as the movie's spectacular centerpiece. Initially skeptical that the building's owner would let them turn the 2,722-foot skyscraper into a movie set, the crew recreated three floors of the Burj on a soundstage in Prague. "We built an adjustable wall, slowly raised it until it was vertical and practiced for 200 hours on it with a crew of seven or eight guys. But Tom kept saying, 'I really want to climb that building.'"

Eventually, a compromise was reached: the production could shoot for one day on the exterior of the building, and the rest of the sequence would be shot on another 60-foot adjustable wall that has been constructed in the desert outside of Dubai. Once again, though, Cruise changed the course of production with a single sentence. "The first day [on the Burj] went so well that Tom said, 'We're filming the whole thing here on the real building.' We ended up doing one day of shooting over on the set, and the rest of it was on the real building."

With Cruise leading the charge, the Ghost Protocol crew worked out a deal with the building's owners that gave them full access to several floors that weren't yet in use. Smrz and his team then knocked out roughly 17 glass panels to make room for the stunt and camera cables and other rigging.

"I told them, 'We won't scratch your building; we're not going to damage anything.' As they saw that we were not destructive and really cared about their building, they started to work with us. There was this one guy I called Dr. No, because every time I'd ask if we could do something, he'd go, 'No!' at first. But towards the end, if I said, 'Hey, we need to drill another hole,' he'd say, 'Just tell me where.'"

As designed by Cruise, Bird and Smrz, the eight-minute Burj sequence has two distinct movements: Ethan's slow, deliberate climb up the side of the Burj in order to recover all-important nuclear launch codes and then his rapid descent. The upwards journey includes a gasp-inducing plunge where Hunt falls from an unsteady perch outside his target floor. Cruise performed the fall himself, dropping roughly forty feet from a height of 1,700 feet off the ground.

"That was probably the most nail-biting day of the show," Smrz says, adding that they only did a single take of Cruise's fall. "Somebody said, 'What if the cable breaks?' And I said, 'That's not an option.' We actually did the math, and there was enough time of free fall for him to text me on the way down, and for me to receive it!"

But Smrz also makes it clear that he would have overruled Cruise if he truly felt the star would be in danger. "If he wasn't an actor, Tom could have been a stuntman, and I would put anybody in anything if I didn't think it was safe for a stunt guy. I've got to be 99.9 percent sure it's going to be successful before we do it, whether it's a stunt person or an actor. So putting Tom into the harness was no different than a stunt guy. I expect the stunt to work, because we've already proven it over and over. "

Ethan's journey down the Burj starts with him running down the side of the building until he literally reaches the end of his rope. But he's the opposite of home free: He's still one floor above the rest of his team — William (Jeremy Renner), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton) — and has to make a daring leap into the void to reach them. In order to gain the necessary momentum, Ethan runs in the opposite direction alongside the building and then power jumps into the air, swinging on the cable in a wide arc as he heads for the open window where William and Jane stand.

"When Tom swung on that rope around the building, Brad wanted him to go out farther," Smrz remembers. "I said, 'We'd have a problem: He has to come back, and I can't soften the impact on the glass. So the farther he goes out, the harder he's going to hit the glass, and he's already hitting it really hard.' Brad came from the world of animation where anything he wanted to do was possible, but I have a reputation for trying to keep everything real. I like to see when they hit the ground, that it hurts. But Brad was great to work with, because we'd always just sit down and talk and make sure we both were happy."

Ethan's cable swing also includes some shots that were filmed on the recreation of the Burj, including the moment where he unclips in mid-air and the moment where he flies at the window, hitting his head. But the scene where Renner clutches Cruise's leg high above Dubai was filmed on location. "We had Tom suspended on the real building, and then we dropped him," Smrz explains. "Jeremy and Paula were on cables, and they actually did dive out the window and caught Tom by his ankle. The actors did a fantastic job, especially because it was hot. We were working on glass, and it got up to 125 degrees."

The Burj Khalifa climb wasn't just a franchise-best stunt: It was also a personal best for Cruise, one that the actor has been trying to top ever since. "He wants to beat it," says Smrz, who hasn't worked on a Mission: Impossible movie since 2015's Rogue Nation , where Cruise awarded him the opportunity to choreograph the wild motorcycle chase of his dreams . "We took it to a whole other level, but it wasn't beating the building, you know what I mean? It was just a motorcycle chase. So they came up with that plane stunt . Tom's going to try to step it up to the next level in every movie, but he's also getting older: I used to tell him, 'Tom, you're going to end up walking like I do if you keep this up!'"

In that case, it's just as well that Cruise is better known for his running anyway. Asked about the actor's famously meme-friendly fleet feet , Smrz confirms he's the last person you want to be in a race with. "He can run 17-and-a-half miles an hour," he marvels. "In the scene where he's running away from the Burj, I had my stunt guys chasing him, and he was killing them. I said, 'Can you slow down a little?' And he started laughing and said, 'I'm not slowing down — tell them to speed up!' He's really fast and he has this odd style where he really lifts his legs high, and he's got the arms and legs pumping. Maybe that's his secret."

Reflecting on the Burj Khalifa climb a decade later, Smrz feels that it's increasingly rare for a studio to allow a movie star, and a stunt crew, the time and resources necessary to pull off a major setpiece on that level. "The big thing was that we really could have done that entire sequence on a stage and with visual effects. But Tom refuses to do that, because he wants climbing the Burj to be part of the thing that he does. He likes to do his own stuff, it's great for publicity and he enjoys it. It's always funny when somebody tells me, 'Tom's not going to do that — the studio's not going to allow it.' And I just say, 'He'll be doing it.'"

At the same time, with the tragedy on the set of Rust still fresh in everyone's minds , Smrz acknowledges that the industry is potentially facing widespread change in terms of how major action sequences are handled, especially when guns are involved. For his part, he believes that safety is always paramount even if it comes with a price tag. "I've been told [by studios], 'You and your guys are too expensive,'" Smrz says. "But at the end of every film, I always ask, 'Still think I'm too expensive?' and they go, 'No, we got what we paid for.' It's so busy out there right now ... and it has a lot to do with the experience of the person they hire. And right now, they're kind of hiring anybody, so it's a little scary.

"I don't think squibs and gunfire are going to go away," Smrz continues. "It's part of the job, and you have to be extra safe and unafraid to stand your ground. You have to be willing to get fired if you know that you're right and they want to push on anyway. On five occasions, I've started to walk off the set and never made it off because they realize how serious you are. You're willing to leave the movie, and that's what it takes if they expect us to keep it safe. I don't think it can get any safer: I mean, if they're going to make it so problematic that they'll just stop doing stuff, it'll all be cartoons."

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is currently streaming on Paramount+.

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Why Is Tom Cruise Sitting On Top of the World's Tallest Building?

We got photographs and video of Tom Cruise jumping off the mid-section of the tallest skyscraper in the world . But this is him on the very top of the Burj Khalifa , filmed by an helicopter, taken around 1AM New York time.

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The photographer—Gerald Donovan—told us all the details:

He was up there for about an hour. Chopper circled several times very close. He's the only one that you can see, but on a video I have, you can see that there were other people up there but hiding down the spire. Lots and lots of filming was happening—both from the chopper and from below (check out the guy in the cradle hanging lower down the Burj on the left hand side). They were filming a 360 degree pan of him. My guess is that it's for promo, and maybe not for the film itself (in all the swinging shots he's wearing 3/4 length trousers. Here he's wearing jeans I think).

How did he get there?

1. He first took elevator BS1: Concourse (4.0 m.) to level 138 (508.2 m.) 2. Then got into elevator BS3: Level 138 to level 160 (621.3 m.) 3. From there, he got elevator BS4: Level 160 to section 18B (646.9 m.) You can also take the steep stairs/landings from 160 to 18B. 4. After that, he climbed the ladder from section 18B to section 19 (653.3 m.) 5. Went from section 19 to section 21 (691.7 m.) taking the steep stairs/landings. 6. Climbed the ladder inside the pinnacle pipe: Section 21 to top platform (826.6 m.)

Yes, that's 443 feet climbing up a ladder at the end. Seems like quite a trip. Cruise has been filming Mission Impossible 4 in Dubai during the last few weeks.

Image Copyright by Gerald Donovan. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. You can see the whole gigapan at Posterous .

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Behind the scenes of Tom Cruise's Burj Khalifa stunt

Incredible footage of Cruise jumping out of windows of the 828 metre Burj Khalifa

Dubai: Take a look at this incredible behind-the-scenes video showing just how Tom Cruise did his stunts on the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, for his upcoming film Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol . Cruise shocked the world last October when he performed stunt after crazy stunt on the outside of the building, and here the film's director Brad Bird takes viewers inside the shooting with some incredible footage of Cruise jumping out of windows of the 828 metre skyscraper, swinging around the side of the building -- and even running down it. You won't believe your eyes.

The film releases in the UAE at Imax and standard cinemas on December 17.

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Tom Cruise In Dubai Stunt For M:I:IV Film

By Gary Mitchell, Sky News Online

Tuesday 2 November 2010 13:28, UK

Hollywood star Tom Cruise has performed a breathtaking stunt for his latest film by dangling from the world's tallest building.

The actor was filming scenes for Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

He was spotted tethered to a line attached to the almost half a mile-high building during the making of the fourth movie in the franchise.

Local media reports included photos of the black-clad Cruise as he strode over the front of the glass-and-steel spire on Monday.

The Burj Khalifa reaches 181 floors and the scenes were being filmed about two-thirds of the way up.

Filming crew used a helicopter to get close to the action.

The new film, which is also being filmed in Moscow and Vancouver, is scheduled for release in December 2011.

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• Dubai 04:05 05:29 12:18 15:42 19:02 20:26

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What Tom Cruise saw in Dubai: Ultimate 360-degree view from top of Burj Khalifa

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA Only Tom Cruise has enjoyed this view.

That was when he was perched right on top of the world’s tallest building - Burj Khalifa filming for ‘Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol’.

Now, you can enjoy it too.

This 360-degree panoramic view is composed from over 70 individual photos taken from the very top of Burj Khalifa.

Released by Emaar Properties the image shows the view across the city of Dubai from 828-metres above sea level captured in high resolution using some of the most advanced techniques in digital photography.

The image has been released to celebrate the second Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Photography Award (HIPA), which will take place in Dubai in March. The award, the world’s richest photography award, will see prizes totalling $389,000 and attracts entrants from 121 countries. The grand prize awarded by HIPA is $120,000.

“This is an extraordinary image taken from an extraordinary location. It reflects the goals of HIPA, to extend the boundaries of photography and celebrate images of unusual beauty and quality that are truly outstanding,” said Ali bin Thalith, the General Secretary of the award.

Dubai based photographer Gerald Donovan created the shot using a mechanised panoramic tripod head to take a series of 48 panoramic images, each shot at a resolution of 80 megapixels.

These were then stitched together with manually shot images to ‘fill-in’ gaps caused by equipment installed at the top of the tower such as the lightning conductor and aircraft beacons.   The result is an image that can be zoomed, tilted and rotated, giving viewers a sense of how it must feel to sit atop the world’s highest building.

The top of the Burj Khalifa is more than 200 metres above the highest point reached by the building’s elevators, which reach the 160th floor at speeds of some 10 metres per second.

The tower’s public observation deck, At the top, Burj Khalifa is on the 124th floor.   The journey to the pinnacle involves a steep ladder climb within the 200-metre spire that crowns the building.

Check the interactive image HERE

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince sits by roadside with ‘lost’ school-girl till dad comes to pick her up

Photos: Tom Cruise, the Taj Mahal and the Burj Khalifa

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Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (also known as Mission: Impossible 4, MI 4, etc.) is opening soon, so the movie’s main star, Tom Cruise has been making the rounds to stir up excitement.

Over the weekend, the wires were full of photos from Cruise’s visit to the Taj Mahal, which he made in the company of Indian movie star Anil Kapoor, who is also in the film. (REUTERS/Brijesh Singh )

Photos: Tom Cruise, the Taj Mahal and the Burj Khalifa Back to video

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Cruise had already been to Japan and South Korea to promote the film, but if he went to any pretty places while there, he didn’t invite photographers along.

While In India, Cruise said he admired Bollywood films and would consider appearing in some if he received any offers.

On Sunday evening, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol was shown to about 1,500 people at one of the world’s largest IMAX dome theatres in the Mumbai district of Wadala. Director Brad Bird and actor Simon Pegg presented the film in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday night, too, though the film will have its “official” opening December 7, 2011, at the Dubai Film Festival. (In the video below this post, Cruise does some hanging around (very literally) outside the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.) Rumour had it that some “fans” in India were hired to welcome Cruise at the airport. The Hindustan Times said: “On Sunday, an online paper reported that the hundreds of fans waiting for Cruise at the Mumbai airport were actually junior artists who were hired for Rs 150 a day. As per the report, they were not even aware that a big Hollywood star was arriving and were simply asked to be there. An artist quoted says she has no idea who Tom Cruise is. Neither Kapoor nor anyone with the international team of MI4 could be contacted for a quote.”

The Hindustan Times also noted that while “actors Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, and filmmaker Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra were among the 150 guests,” at a  a party  Kapoor threw for Cruise, “Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, ” did not come. (party pic credit STR/AFP/Getty Images) Meanwhile, the Times of India had quotes from several people who met Cruise and were impressed by his friendliness. “A female journalist who interacted with the actor at the fan screening of his film in Mumbai amidst the chaos was smitten. “He is super charming. When he talks to you, it feels like you are the centre of his universe.” Ace photographer Atul Kasbekar was all praises for the Hollywood heartthrob too. “Tom Cruise is a genuinely nice guy. Warm, polite, looks at you when he speaks and listens to what you say and is funny too. I told him my daughter is a big fan and he says to call her! He even chats with her for a few minutes! What a nice guy,” said Atul.”

Here in Montreal, the IMAX theatre in the ScotiaBank Banque Scotia complex will show Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol very early on December 16, 2011. (That’s to say, buy a ticket in advance, go to the cinema late at night on Thursday, December 15, and the lights will go down at 12:05 a.m. At this and certain other IMAX theatres, viewers will see the first six minutes of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Buy tickets to that screening here.

Here is a List of the IMAX cinemas in Canada, U.S. and Britain that will show those six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises.

I’m including two photos the Taj Mahal without Tom Cruise, (because I can ), and because it is beautiful. While some people like Cruise and some don’t, what’s to dislike about beautiful architecture?

With luck, people will still admire its beauty centuries from now, when no one remembers who Tom Cruise was.

The video clip below was made many storeys up, at the building above, the Burj Khalifa.

Photo credits, from top of post, 1) Tom Cruise at Taj Mahal by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images, 2)  Anil Kapoor and Tom Cruise at Taj Mahal by REUTERS/Brijesh Singh, 3) Group photo by AFP/Getty Images, 4) Taj Mahal detail by REUTERS/Vijay Mathur, 5) Taj Mahal and pond by Julian Finney/Getty Images, 6) Burj Khalifa by REUTERS/Matthias Seifert

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Burj Khalifa viral moments, including Tom Cruise stunt, Emirates advert and a giant ring

From blockbuster performances to digital recreations, here are five times the landmark has stood out from the crowd.

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. He performed his own stunts while filming one scene on Burj Khalifa. AP

Wednesday marks 13 years since Burj Khalifa was inaugurated, becoming the world’s tallest building and a global landmark.

Standing 828 metres tall, the structure took more than six years to build, at a cost of $1.5 billion.

In the years since, it has become more than just a building. It’s a tourist attraction, a space for art and celebration, a shooting location for countless films and music videos and the subject of several viral social media moments.

Here, The National looks at five times Burj Khalifa has been seen from a different perspective.

When Tom Cruise scaled it in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol

Merely a year after Burj Khalifa was completed, it featured in one of the most memorable scenes from the 2011 blockbuster Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol .

Tom Cruise ’s character, secret agent Ethan Hunt, uses a pair of special suction gloves to reach the 130th floor. Known for doing his own stunts, Cruise shot scenes in which he walked sideways across the building’s exterior 518m in the air.

When a member of Emirates crew stood on top of it for an advert

New emirates video shows flight attendant on top of burj khalifa.

In 2021, Emirates caused a stir when it posted a video on social media appearing to show a flight attendant standing on top of Burj Khalifa , holding a sign celebrating the UAE being removed from the UK’s red list during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some questioned whether the video was fake, but the Dubai airline soon revealed it had enlisted the help of skydiver and stuntwoman Nicole Smith-Ludvik, who posed as crew for the ambitious shoot.

Smith-Ludvik did in fact stand on the building’s highest point strapped to a safety harness — a feat only achieved by a small handful of people — as she was filmed by helicopters and drones.

She later returned to the same spot for another video, this time promoting Emirates’ partnership with Expo 2020 Dubai.

When it was given a CGI umbrella to shelter from the rain

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fazza (@faz3)

In December, Burj Khalifa was at the centre of a fun video to brighten up a grey and rainy day in the city. The viral clip , shared by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed , Crown Prince of Dubai, shows the top of the tower opening to produce an umbrella, sheltering itself from the rain.

The CGI video was produced as part of the city’s Dubai Destinations promotional campaign, which has created several images and clips that have gone viral in recent months. Videos include a summer campaign, which featured Burj Khalifa being used a ring toss for a giant flamingo pool inflatable.

When it lit up for special global events

Burj khalifa lights up in tribute to queen elizabeth ii.

Burj Khalifa is famous for its nightly projector light shows, which transform the outside of the structure into a colourful show that draws tourists from around the world. But it also produces several special lights shows to mark global events, from celebrations to memorials and everything in between.

It held a special memorial show following the death of UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa , who died in May aged 73.

In September, it commemorated the life of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II , following her death aged 96.

In November, it also lit up to celebrate Saudi Arabia’s historic World Cup win over eventual victors Argentina in the group stages, which shocked and delighted fans around the world in equal measure.

When it was surrounded by a futuristic ring design

In August, Burj Khalifa was — quite literally — at the centre of an ambitious architectural project , which would see it encircled by a 550-metre-tall ring structure.

The planned project by architecture firm Znera Space, known as Downtown Circle, would be a floating city concept that would change the emirate’s skyline as we know it.

With a circumference of 3km, the structure would consist of smaller units containing homes as well as public, commercial and cultural spaces, as well as a skypark and a tram that circles the outer perimeter.

However, the design is very much still a concept. “Our roles as architects is to come up with these ideas,” Najmus Chowdry, co-founder of Znera Space, previously told The National . “We want people to comment on it, criticise it, to see how we can think about building topographies.”

The Arts Edit

A guide to arts and culture, from a Middle Eastern perspective

Photos: Sunrise at the Top of the Burj Khalifa

By Susan Hack

I took this photo of Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai's main business thoroughfare—it's lined by impressive skyscrapers, many of them hotels.

When the sun rose at 6:15 a.m., the deck was already quite crowded with visitors. In 2010, the financial crisis forced Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum to take a financial bailout from and rename his famous tower after the UAE head of state, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Today tourism is back, and Dubai is again on a roll. The boom is buoyed, alas, by the revolution in Egypt and civil war in Syria, which makes Dubai seem a safe and hassle-free haven by comparison. The immigration lines were so long at the vast new Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport that it took me twice as long to get a visa as it did to fly to Dubai from Doha.

When I travel, I love watching how people take and frame photographs, especially of monuments. I mean, what to do with a fixed object that never moves? This man from India used his iPad to snap the top of the building, 1,322 feet above us. Looking down 1,450 feet is still vertigo-inducing: If you want to snap a photo of the surrounding cityscape, you have to point your camera or lens through acrylic panels placed to keep people from falling (or jumping) off. Keep your camera strap around your wrist!

The Tom Cruise position. In the "At the Top" observation lounge swag shop, you can green screen yourself or your loved ones in a scene from the last Mission Impossible film (or in any other family-friendly pose you choose) and buy the portrait in a leather frame (200 AED) or emblazon it on a snow globe and two key chains (150 AED).

Matt Ortile

Kaitlin Menza

Kelsey Glennon

Lauren Burvill

The green screen

At 6 a.m., I found many locals and tourists catching the sunrise. The 1,450-foot-high observation deck is on floor 124 of the 2,272-foot structure.

Interactive digital telescopes enable you to look back into the past and see the dramatic changes in Dubai's landscape. This is the same view of Sheikh Zayed Road as in my photo, taken in the early 1990s.

The sun rising over the Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping center, at the base of the world's tallest building.

The tower is so tall that it's hard to photograph in a single frame. Looking down, you can barely make out people, and the city below looks like one of those architectural models Dubai developers use to sell real estate.

A wall along the moving sidewalk in the ground floor entrance flashes the poetry of chutzpah.

A moving sidewalk takes you past a light mural showing images of the glories of the old desert life.

Back on earth. A dawn visit is less crowded than sunset ( book Burj Khalifa tickets onljne ). Afterward, try out Dubai's new bike-sharing program for a spin around its most famous monument .

A Very Important Person was here: This autographed photo was a gift to Sheikh Mohammed from Tom Cruise, who did his own stunt hanging off the Burj during the filming of Mission Impossible.

Tom Cruise's New Beach Pictures At 61-Years-Old Cause Fans To Probe His Workout Routine

Quick links, tom cruise's intense lifestyle is the key to his incredibly fit beach body, tom cruise doing his own stunts has injured his body too many times.

• Tom Cruise's fit physique at 61 is due to his intense lifestyle, strict diet, and workout routine.
• Cruise consumes 15 small snacks daily, favors grilled foods, and avoids sugar and carbs.
• Despite maintaining a stellar physique, Cruise has sustained frequent injuries doing his own movie stunts.

After Tom Cruise rose to fame as a young man, he spent years starring in blockbuster movies , which made him richer than his co-stars . Unlike other stars who slow down as they age, Cruise also continues to perform crazy stunts for his blockbuster movies in his 60s .

Even though Cruise still seems youthful onscreen, many observers are amazed to see how good Cruise continues to look in public . A perfect example of that is the fact that Cruise looked so good in beach photos that fans wanted to know what the secret to his physique was.

This article will reveal how Cruise remains in amazing shape in his 60s . Then, the article will look at all the damage that Cruise has done to his body during his lengthy career as a movie star.

On July 3, 2023, Tom Cruise turned 61 years old. Several months later, in May 2024, the paparazzi captured photos of Cruise shirtless on the beach . The vast majority of people who saw those images were blown away by one thing; how incredibly fit Cruise was .

As a Daily Mail article about the photos revealed, on top of the people complimenting Cruise, some expressed their desire to be as fit as him. One example of that is a social media user who wrote, "He’s a couple of years older than me and I wish I looked that good".

Unfortunately for anyone who wanted to look like Cruise did in those photos at that age, the movie star doesn't solely rely on his genetics to defy time. Instead, Cruise still looks incredible at 61 years old thanks to his intense lifestyle .

In July 2023, The Daily Mail published an article about how Cruise stays fit . Given how amazing Cruise still looks with his shirt off forty years after his Top Gun volleyball scene, it shouldn't surprise anyone that he works hard on his body.

Who are the actors who are in the best shape, according to Health Fitness Revolution?

• Matthew McConaughey
• Clint Eastwood
• Ryan Reynolds
• George Clooney
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Bradley Cooper

Of course, the first step to being fit is adopting a diet that is good for you. With that in mind, it makes sense to look at the fact that Cruise consumes food all day, every day .

Suri Cruise's 18th Birthday Week Shows How Different Her Relationship With Her Parents Katie Holmes And Tom Cruise Are

According to The Daily Mail, which cites a 2020 report about Cruise's diet, the actor eschews eating three meals daily. Instead, Cruise reportedly eats fifteen small snacks daily. Fortunately for Cruise, he has a personal chef who keeps the actor eating healthily.

As for what kind of food Cruise eats, he reportedly favors grilled foods, nuts, fruit, and low-temperature meals. As importantly, Cruise avoids sugar and carbs. According to the 2020 report, Cruise has been known to consume as little as 1200 calories in a day.

On top of tightly controlling his diet, Cruise is also extremely dedicated to working out his body. The Daily Mail's article quoted Cruise talking to Men's Health about the many activities he does to keep his body fit .

"Sea-kayaking, caving fencing, treadmill, weights rock climbing, hiking I jog I do so many different activities."

Tom Cruise's First Ex-Wife Mimi Rogers Complained About Their Lack Of Bedroom Activity Before Taking Her Comments Back

On top of activities, Cruise, unsurprisingly, spends long hours working out each week. According to what Cruise told Men's Health, he hits the gym five days a week .

Cruise told the outlet that he dedicated three days a week to weight training sessions and cardio. Cruise's workouts on the other two days of the week were dedicated to more surprising activities like fencing or hiking.

Most people don't talk about things like fencing when they discuss their fitness routine. According to The Daily Mail's aforementioned article, there is another thing that has kept Cruise fit that is unusual.

Throughout Cruise's career, there have been endless reports about how the actor does his own stunts. To pull that off, Cruise spends long hours practicing every detail of each stunt to perfect his body to pull it off.

During Tom Cruise's interviews, he has repeatedly spoken about getting a thrill out of performing stunts. In June 2023, Cruise also told Access Hollywood that he believes that doing his own stunts creates special moments for his fans. Well, you know, you never have to. But I want to, I want to thrill that audience, I want to do everything I can.

Of course, while he is training to pull off a stunt, Cruise focuses on bringing an amazing moment to life on film. However, there is no doubt that the long hours Cruise has spent perfecting stunts has the side effect of keeping him fit.

On the other hand, there also is no doubt that Cruise's dedication to doing his own stunts has damaged his body many times.

In March 2020, Screen Rant published an article about the wild things that Tom Cruise has done onscreen . In case it wasn't already clear, the article revealed that Cruise had done some truly mind-blowing things throughout his career.

Tom Cruise Once Told Fans To 'Get A Life' After Vanity Fair Asked About His Divorce From Nicole Kidman

A ranker article also revealed something sad about many of the stunts from Screen Rant's article. During his career, Cruise has been injured many times while performing stunts .

Probably the most talked about injury that the article touches on is when Cruise broke his ankle. Cruise suffered that injury after failing to jump from one building to another while filming Mission: Impossible Fallout.

Many people forget that Cruise injured an ankle during another Mission: Impossible movie. While filming the first film in the series, Cruise bruised his ankle while running from a huge fish tank that exploded behind him.

While preparing to film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Cruise also reportedly blacked out several times while training underwater to hold his breath. Cruise was also reportedly slammed into the building several times while hanging from the Burj Khalifa during the filming of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

These are just some examples of ways that Cruise has damaged his body for movies. For someone so disciplined about his health, it is fascinating he has risked it so many times.