Man on a mission

As usual, Cruise - reprising his role as errant IMF agent Ethan Hunt - performed all of his stunts himself and Fallout features the actor performing the first known on-camera HALO jump (high altitude, low opening), a skydiving technique used largely in military operations to avoid detection and covertly deploy personnel and supplies.

According to McQuarrie, not only did Cruise have to jump from 25,000 feet (7,625 meters), but due to the special requirements of the lighting, there were only three minutes in the day that were appropriate for shooting the scene. In the end, it took Cruise and the camera crew over 106 jumps to finish filming the sky diving sequence.

"It's very complex," says Cruise. "We had to teach the camera operator how to shoot the movie. The guy is an incredible camera operator and photographer who films sky diving, but not the kind of storytelling that we have in this movie - and it looks like it's all one take. Originally, it was designed to be six different shots, but we managed to get it done in three."

The same level of exertion went to the helicopter scene, for which Cruise had to acquire a helicopter pilot's license, due to his insistence for performing the stunt without the help of computer-generated imagery or body doubles.

Cruise got his license within 12 days. However, to become an experienced pilot, he was required to train around the clock.

"I studied the book beforehand, and I went in for 12 days and got my license. Then I trained for a year and a half afterward to get my ratings and to fly aerobatics," Cruise says.

The filming process was so risky that the film crew was constantly worried about the actor's safety.

"We experienced a degree of tension that even the audience don't get," Pegg adds. "Because, when you watch the film, you know that Tom's OK, because you saw him on the red carpet and doing interviews. When you're making the film, however, you don't know if he's gonna make it."