It all began with 1996’s Mission: Impossible, when Tom Cruise was chased down the streets of Prague by an exploding aquarium, dangled acrobatically from wires, and went toe-to-toe with a wind machine on top of a miniature train. Having made his mark as a bona fide action star, Cruise, in the years and sequels that followed, consistently raised the stakes of performing death-defying stunts as IMF superspy Ethan Hunt in the long-running film series. From scaling the world’s tallest building and holding his breath underwater for six minutes, to corkscrew diving in a helicopter and riding a motorcycle off a cliff – and much more – the actor has cultivated a well-earned reputation as Hollywood’s premier daredevil. But for all of Cruise’s incredible physical feats, a particularly dangerous and ambitious stunt in the franchise’s sixth installment, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, required a level of planning, rehearsal, and outright audacity to pull off.

Tom Cruise Performed a HALO Jump in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’

After clinging to the exterior of an ascending cargo plane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, it was difficult to make the case that Tom Cruise could push the boundaries of performing jaw-dropping stunts much further. Three years later, however, he upped the ante yet again for the series’ next installment by executing a HALO (high altitude, low open) jump at 25,000 feet over the United Arab Emirates (standing in for Paris), becoming the first actor to perform a HALO jump. Leaping out of a plane traveling at 165 mph, the stunt saw Cruise, wearing a specialized helmet described as “both a prop and a life-saving device,” reach speeds as high as 200 mph. Unsurprisingly, a great deal of time and work went into the amazing spectacle.

Aside from executing the HALO jump, many moving parts had to come together to facilitate the complex logistics and personnel involved with preparing for the stunt. Among Paramount Pictures’ needs were the blessing of the UAE government, cooperation with the nation’s military, the availability of two C-17 airplanes and one DHC-6 Twin Otter, and a hangar on the ground that served as production headquarters. According to local production manager Mariam Abdallah, “They gave us access to decompression chambers, which were needed and on high alert while we were jumping, and also had a medevac team on standby every day during rehearsals, training, and the actual jumps.” As skydiving camera operator Crag O’Brien recalls, Cruise and his skydiving colleagues trained by performing, on a daily basis, five jumps out of the Twin Otter and an additional three out of the C-17. Suffice to say that when it came time to roll cameras, the well-oiled machine of professionals was raring to go.

The HALO Jump Took 12 Days To Shoot

After painstaking preparation, which included rehearsing in one of the world’s largest wind tunnels, Tom Cruise, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, and an army of crew members took to the skies over Abu Dhabi to shoot one HALO jump after another. Prior to each jump, Cruise breathed pure oxygen for 20 minutes to combat decompression sickness and, for the sake of assuring skeptical viewers that the actor was indeed performing the stunt himself, wore a helmet featuring interior lights to ensure visibility of his face as he fell from the sky. Having originally intended to shoot the stunt during sunset over three days, it was determined that the production would have a narrow three-minute window to capture the desired light, leaving room for only one take per day.

Once the magic hour lighting was ideal at 25,000 feet, a camera operator leaped from the C-17, falling backwards, with Cruise just seconds behind. To assist the operator who was donning a head-mounted camera, the actor had to secure and maintain a free-falling position that put him within three feet of the lens, thereby ensuring the image would remain in proper focus. At the same time, he had to be mindful of not colliding with the camera operator or the stunt performer standing in for Walker (Henry Cavill). After 12 days of shooting, the previous months of planning, rehearsing, and training paid off in droves when Cruise and company got the footage they needed. Ultimately, three separate takes comprised what would become one seemingly continuous shot in the final film, with visual effects replacing the United Arab Emirates with Paris nightlife. Per USA today, between preparing for the stunt and its execution, Cruise racked up a whopping 106 jumps altogether, and his dedication to the stunt made for an unprecedented, edge-of-your-seat sequence in a franchise chock-full of memorable thrills.

Tom Cruise Raised the Stakes With His Next ‘Mission: Impossible’ Stunt

If performing a HALO jump wasn’t dangerous enough, Tom Cruise arguably took things even further in 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, performing what Christopher McQuarrie said was “far and away the most dangerous stunt we’ve ever attempted.” Armed with a parachute, Cruise rode a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jumped thousands of feet to the ground below. Much like his preparation for the HALO jump, he prepared extensively by performing 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps, as well as numerous jumps off a long, elevated ramp to calculate factors that included height, speed, wind, camera placement, and his ultimate trajectory. On the film’s first day of principal photography, Cruise performed the stunt six times, bringing to fruition an idea that he and McQuarrie had spent years developing.

After overseeing yet another incredible stunt for the Mission: Impossible franchise, McQuarrie admitted “the only thing that scares me more is what we have planned for Mission 8.” As cryptic as that statement is, it bodes well for fans of the series in confirming that Tom Cruise has no intention of slowing down on delivering nail-biting thrills for global audiences. Until the highly anticipated follow-up to Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters, we can merely speculate about what kind of anxiety-inducing antics the daredevil superstar has up his sleeve. Given the beloved series’ track record for stunts, however, it’s safe to assume audiences won’t be disappointed.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.