Mission Impossible wraps 'mind-blowing' Abu Dhabi stunt shoot

Abu Dhabi shoot will lead to a two-minute dramatic stunt sequence in finished movie

Tom Cruise is famous for performing his own stunts, particularly for the Mission Impossible franchise (pictured). Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions

Mission Impossible: Fallout has  wrapped shooting scenes in Abu Dhabi after the movie's lengthy 161-day shoot that was delayed for around four months when star Tom Cruise broke his ankle during the filming of a film that, by all accounts, looks likely to be something of a celebration of stunts.

Director Christopher McQuarrie took to Instagram to announce the occasion saying: "Day 161 and that's a wrap. Our deepest appreciation to our incredible splinter unit for your patience and fortitude. Sincerest thanks to Her Excellency Maryam Al Mheiri, twofour54, The Abu Dhabi Film Commission and the UAE Armed Forces for making us feel so welcome. Everything is impossible until it's been done and together we did it. #MissionImpossibleFallout #inabudhabi"

We still don’t know exactly what McQuarrie and Cruise were shooting in Abu Dhabi, other than the fact it involved planes, skydiving, and what McQuarrie teasingly referred to as “the stunt” when he announced the end of principal photography and advised the Abu Dhabi splinter unit to “mount up” back in February.

McQuarrie did give a hint away on his Instagram as why the team seem to have spent so long in Abu Dhabi for what was assumed to be a minor second unit shoot, however – the crew had only three minutes of the correct lighting each day, while travelling at 200mph at 20,000 feet, to shoot the two-minute segment. So no pressure there.

Although the Abu Dhabi shoot was wrapped in secrecy, producer David Ellison suggested at last year's SxSW Festival that the end result will be amazing, describing the film's flagpole stunt as Cruise's biggest ever: "We're thrilled. Chris [McQuarrie] is back, obviously, writing and directing after Rogue Nation. We could not be more excited about the character Henry Cavill's going to play. And I will say after the Burj Khalifa, which Cruise previously scaled in 2011's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol we thought it was going to be impossible to top that stunt. What Tom is doing in this movie I believe will top anything that's come before. It is absolutely unbelievable, he's been training for a year," he told the festival audience. "It is going to be, I believe, the most impressive and unbelievable thing that Tom Cruise has done in a movie, and he has been working on it since right after Rogue Nation came out. It's gonna be mind-blowing."

Mission Impossible: Fallout is in cinemas in July.

________________

Read more:

Abu Dhabi Film Commission breaks silence over Mission Impossible shoot

Confirmed: Tom Cruise is shooting a film in Abu Dhabi, most likely Mission Impossible

The stars coming to Middle East Film & Comic Con this year

‘We were flying the Millennium Falcon, X-Wings and TIE Fighters over Abu Dhabi’

Mission Impossible director shares snaps of Abu Dhabi stunt

________________