The rare stunt shows the spectacular bar that Cruise must surpass each time up for the franchise, which has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. Mission: Impossible and Cruise have produced iconic action images since the series started nearly 20 years ago — from Hunt breaking into CIA headquarters, suspended from the ceiling, in 1996’s Mission: Impossible to scaling the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai for 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

“We knew anything we did was going to be compared with the Burj. But it’s not like you could wait for someone to build an even taller building,” says director Christopher McQuarrie. “We keep pushing the envelope.”

The new flick finds Hunt’s highly effective but destructive Impossible Mission Force (IMF) disbanded by vengeful Washington bureaucrats such as the CIA chief (played by Alec Baldwin). But Hunt pulls his team together (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and newcomer Rebecca Ferguson) to battle the shadowy force known as “The Syndicate” and its elusive leader (Sean Harris).

Stunts that involved speeding on motorcycles, getting airborne in cars and holding his breath underwater for a lengthy period were executed in Morocco, Vienna and London. So there’s little time for rest, even after riding outside an A400 for two days.