Mission Impossible 7 Locations

[Eleanor Heidecker]

Inthe almost 30 years that Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt making impossible missions possible, there's been nary a building, mountain, road or general topographical area across the globe where he hasn't danced with death. The seventh instalment in Cruise's spy oeuvre, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, is no different.

The Mission: Impossible films have never been humble, per se, but back in 1996, film execs weren't flying Tom Cruise just anywhere on a whim. That's why most of the action in this campy kick-off takes place in Prague.

The film's first doomed mission, which sets off the dominoes for 26 years of hell-raising adrenaline, takes place inside an Embassy in Prague. The outside shots are actually Liechtenstein Palace, one of the most impressive buildings in the city, however, the inside shots are instead shot in the Nrodn Muzeum. The city's Natural History Museum at the time was disused and has only in the last few years started reopening in full to the public. If it looks at all familiar now, it's because the interior was also used 10 years later in Casino Royale (2006).

Mission: Impossible II is the classic dud in a franchise. Though hugely profitable, it's the one turkey in a now-pristine cinema-bolstering franchise. Still, there are some great location shots, as would quickly become the hallmark of the series.

One of Cruise's earliest death-defying stunts came in this second outing with a rock climbing scene so stomach-dropping it will make you clench. Free Solo-ing before it became cool, Cruise scales a set of towering red rocks that are part of the iconic Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah. If you're wondering, yes that's Cruise in basically every shot. Though he did have support harnesses that were digitally removed in post, the stunt is one of the first real glimpses of the star's clear need to laugh in the face of mortality.

Cruise flinging himself off a ledge on the Bank of China building in Shanghai is one of the most hell-raising stunts of Mission: Impossible III. The film is a return to form for the franchise after the silliness of the second and sees Cruise's hunt hurl himself off the top of the 55 ft building by a cable before landing and sliding down the windows of the even heftier Bocom Financial Towers building next door. Somehow, this isn't even the most death-teasing stunt Cruise does in the series. It's probably not even, like, top 3.

They abandoned the naming convention and upped the ante with Ghost Protocol, the fourth film in the M:I series and the one many credit with taking the franchise up a notch. Of course, Ghost Protocol goes down in history as the one where Tom Cruise simply had to scale the tallest building in the world.

Cruise made headlines before, during and after the release of Ghost Protocol for first climbing up Dubai's Burj Khalifa and then rappelling down it, naturally. Insurance companies hate him! It's hard to believe this is only the midway point in the franchise and that, somehow, they've managed to outdo it.

Vancouver often stands in for different cities in film and TV as a result of tasty tax credits. It's been used as a makeshift San Francisco, New York and even North Korea, but in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, it stands in for Mumbai. In a scene where Cruise's Hunt chases Michael Nyqvist' Kurt Hendricks through a bustling Indian street, the backdrop is actually a very non-descript corner next to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, a secret handover of hard drive data needs to have a satisfyingly ominous backdrop, which makes South London's Brompton Cemetery perfect pickings. The 18th-century cemetery is one of the oldest and most iconic in the city, with over 35,000 monuments and tombstones.

The movie takes us from Paris to New Zealand then back to London, with one defining chase between Cruise and Henry Cavill taking us basically across the whole city. In hot pursuit, there's a leap from St Paul's Cathedral to the nearby Grange Hotel, then a sprint across the top of Blackfriars Train Station before a final resting spot up on the roof of the Tate Modern. Forget hop-on-hop-off bus tours, Cruise has figured out the best way to experience London is to simply parkour between landmarks.

The magic of cinema means, sometimes, glamorous places are cobbled together from large warehouse sets or even shooting locations you'd never expect. Case and point Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, which sees Birmingham Central Rail Station stand in for the ultra-fancy Abu Dhabi International Airport.

In wide shots, including one where Tom Cruise literally runs across the top of it (because of course he does), the real airport is used. However, from the inside, that's all Birmingham, baby. Let's hope Tom Cruise got to taste a classic Birmingham Balti during his downtime.

Called the biggest stunt in cinema history, and something they'd been working on for years, Cruise actually rode the bike off a big ski slope 6 times in one day of shooting following 500 test skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps in preparation. There's a very see-it-to-believe-it video of the whole thing which, even once you have seen it, will still feel fairly unbelievable. The whole thing was shot on location in Helsetkopen, Norway.

Be it nail-biting helicopter chases in New Zealand or hanging off a skyscraper in Dubai, the high-octane Mission: Impossible (MI) franchise has been filmed in exotic and challenging locations across the world. Here are some of the Mission: Impossible filming locations for fans of the film series and travellers who would want to visit these places.

Starring Tom Cruise in the lead, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Frederick Schmidt and Simon Pegg will reprise their roles in the upcoming film, expected to premiere on 14 July.

The spy-thriller presented the iconic Vienna Opera House in a unique way. The scene at the opera house features Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a disavowed British agent who is on a personal agenda to assassinate a chancellor from Austria. However, Ilsa fails at her mission, which eventually leads to a cat-and-mouse chase.

Around 350 performances of over 60 operas and ballets are on the schedule each season. On the stage every night, you may also witness world-class artists performing with the permanent ensemble members.

Hunt and Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas) depart the US Embassy building in the first 30 minutes of the film, hoping to catch their target. The duo appears to be having a pleasant evening while the rest of the crew is being eliminated one by one.

Liechtenstein Palace was integrated into one architectural complex as early as 1620, particularly by being altered into a hexagon that leans over the river, making it one of the oldest preserved examples of baroque architecture in Prague. The King of Bohemia was crowned in 1791, and the palace was decorated with features of classicism and a large hall for the coronation ceremony.

Except for the spectacular rock-climbing scene, which was shot at Dead Horse Point State Park, the stylish sequel to Mission: Impossible was also shot almost exclusively in Australia, in and around Sydney, New South Wales.

Other Mission: Impossible shooting locations were in Queenstown and Milford Sound. In the Rees Valley, approximately an hour and a half drive from Queenstown, a large mobile medical camp and a Kashmiri community were set up for filming the climax of the film.

A joint venture between the French and the Arab government, Louvre Abu Dhabi is the first universal museum in the UAE. Showcasing modern construction techniques and a striking geometric dome, it features ancient and modern works of historical, cultural and sociological value from different parts of the world. Anyone visiting the Louvre will be led through a sequential and theme-based exhibition that takes them through various technological innovations, methodologies and much more.

Based on the information revealed about the movie in the media, Cruise was photographed gliding across Buttermere Lake after skydiving from a helicopter as part of an incredible stunt that viewers might get to see.

Tip: Contact the Bureau Land Management in advance to find out if driving on the flats is permitted. The glow of the white surface can appear deceptive, while the ground under the thin salt crust might still be muddy. The best places to photograph the Salt Flats might be from I-80 rest areas or from the tarred Leppy Pass Road, located off Exit 4, where a parking area at the end serves as the entry point to the Bonneville International Speedway.

That was my feeling when I came upon the volcanic field of the San Rafael Swell, a huge rock reef with hundreds of meters-deep gorges. Scenes from the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot were shot around Three Fingers Canyon, where cameras captured 100 million years of earth history. Aerial perspectives of the San Rafael Reef are prominently featured in the movie, and visitors can admire those views from Highway 24.

The town of Moab is an old hand at starring in films, due to its location between Arches and Canyonlands national parks. In 1949, the town became a popular setting for westerns, and notable director John Ford shot his film classics "Rio Grande" and "Wagon Master" in the area. The Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission was founded in 1949, and has earned a reputation as the longest running film commission in the world.

In their hopeless situation, the women drive their Ford Thunderbird over the gorge. Fossil Point can be reached from the west through Canyonlands National Park, or from the east via State Route 279 and San Juan County Road 142, also called Shafer Trail or Potash Road. The spot is even identified on Google Maps as Thelma & Louise Point. From Moab, it takes a little more than an hour to drive either route.

When Hollywood discovered Southern Utah in the 1930s, Kanab was one of the central locations. More than 200 westerns, feature films and TV series were filmed in this Kane County outpost, which earned the town the title of Little Hollywood.

3a8082e126