Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | 2023

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More globetrotting from the MI franchise – Rome, Venice, Abu Dhabi, the Austrian Alps... but not everything is what it seems. Find out where the film was actually made.

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The first half of an epic two-parter centres around the hunt for a world-dominating MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins, the Entity, a sentient AI virus unlocked by two halves of a key, which has gone missing.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is introduced accepting his mission in Amsterdam. Although there was filming in the city, all we see in the finished film is the interior of the safe-house which the sharp-eyed might recognise as the redressed studio set later featured as the ‘Venice’ safe-house.

The Intelligence Community briefing in 'Washington DC', where the Entity is explained, overlooks the open expanse of the the ExCel Centre, London E16, the Exhibition and Conference Centre in the glossy new Docklands highrise complex – remember Lucius Fox demonstrating the Tumbler here for Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins?

The Middle Eastern sequences were filmed around Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, beginning with the "Arabian desert somewhere near the border of Yemen” flashback where Ethan encounters Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). The deserted village was built for the movie in the Rub' al Khali, Abu Dhabi's Empty Quarter, the desert of the south which does indeed border Yemen.

The briefly-glimpsed 'Al Dhafra Air Base', from which Briggs (Shea Whigham) sets out on the trail of Ethan is just part of Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport itself – which, in an economical use of locations, is where he's heading.

Ethan is in Abu Dhabi to retrieve half of the vital key which is up for sale to the highest bidder.

The sleek curvilinear exterior is the airport’s brand new Terminal A (originally the Midfield Terminal). So new that it wasn’t completed at the time of filming, which gave the production plenty of access to departure gates, walkways and even the baggage handling area, where Benji (Simon Pegg) is faced with dismantling a sinister device.

Things get complicated when the half-key is lifted by deft pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell).

Did you notice the sneaky change of location? The airport concourse where Ethan persuades her to return the key is the Bullring and Grand Central, the shopping mall above New Street Station in Birmingham, in the UK West Midlands.

Its sinuous white lines are a near-perfect fit, making it tough to distinguish Abu Dhabi from Birmingham – except for native Brummies who must be laughing their socks off.

Ethan's sprint along the airport roof is the real Terminal A – it's Tom Cruise, so of course he's not going to pass up the opportunity to run across the roof of a major international airport.

Grace is a match for Ethan, outwitting him to board her flight to Rome, though on arrival she's immediately detained by the authorities.

The police station where she's held is so picturesquely overlooked by the Colosseum that I cynically assumed this was added digitally to establish the locale. It's not. A 19th century school building, IC Via Delle Carine, Via Vittorino da Feltre at Via Delle Carine, just north of the landmark fitted the bill perfectly.

The interior is a different matter. The office in which Grace is interrogated is a studio set, but the book-lined study to which she's taken to meet with her "lawyer" (Ethan of course) is the library of the University of London in Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1. We’ve seen the severe 1930s deco stylings of Senate House many time, in Batman Begins, as ‘New York’ in Tony Scott's vampire flick The Hunger and as the CIA HQ in the same director’s Spy Game, as as well as the king’s bunker in Richard Loncraine's Richard III, with Ian McKellen, and as ‘the best restaurant in Moscow’ in Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Managing to slip out, Grace commandeers a cop car and heads off along Via Vittorino da Feltre, with Ethan following on a stolen bike. The ensuing chase sequence uses the historical centre of the city north of the Colosseum.

It’s on Via dei Fora Imperiali, the straight route from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia. It runs through such an historic area that, since 2013, part of it is closed to private vehicles.

Alongside Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martina Martiri Grace crashes into the van driven by Paris (Pom Klementieff), leading to the stand-off when Briggs and Italian law enforcement turn up. As the situation turns into a shoot-out, Grace and Ethan, now handcuffed together, take advantage of the confusion to make off in another car.

Swerving around the corner of the grandiose white marble Victor Emmanuel II Monument, they turn into Via di San Venanzio, which is where they plough into the slew of parked mopeds in front of Touristation Aracoeli. They stop briefly for Ethan to take over the wheel but Paris, who’s helped herself to the Hummer H2, is on their tail.

Turning right into Via d'Aracoeli, they’re on to Via Urbana at Via di Santa Maria Maggiore, overlooked by the dome of La Sacra Culla, and are now cut off by Briggs.

Abandoning the damaged car in a doorway on Via Della Tribuna di Campitelli, Ethan requisitions a safe car which turns out to be conveniently close by. Parked in front of the Church of St Catherine on Via dei Funari, it’s a dinky little yellow Fiat 500.

It does its job though and they quickly find themselves on Piazza della Trinita dei Monti – which just happens to be at the top of the famous Spanish Steps.

What car chase would be complete without having to negotiate a set of steps, and a famous one too?

There are many horror stories of historic steps being damaged during Hollywood car chases but it seems lessons have been learned.

The wide shots of the Spanish Steps are real enough but the little Fiat bounces down a mock-up recreated in the UK. The deception is rendered seamless by digital touching up – although that shot of the Fiat crashing through the stone balustrade gives a clue that this may not be the actual landmark.

This Rococo-style flight of 135 steps in three terraces leading from the Piazza di Spagna up to the monastery church of Trinita dei Monti, was built in built in 1726. Although the official name is Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti, the nickname comes from the Spanish embassy which once stood on the piazza at its foot.

Still being followed by Paris, Ethan and Grace arrive at the foot of the steps on Piazza di Spagna with its little fountain, where the Fiat starts to twirl around uncontrollably in clouds of smoke before scooting off into the Traforo Umberto I road tunnel, which runs from Via Milano to Via del Traforo.

Out of the road tunnel, and they’re right back where they started in front of the 'police station' – though on a lower road level – Via degli Annibaldi.

The convenient gate, through which they reverse into a subterranean tunnel, is real though I doubt it leads directly into Rome’s Metro system as it does in the film.

Stuck on the rail lines, the resourceful Grace escapes leaving Ethan to avoid a speeding train and to make his way out via the Colosseo Metro exit on Largo Gaetana Agnesi opposite the Colosseum. He’s picked up by Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji – who’ve now been joined by Ilsa. And that’s it for Rome.

The next stop is Venice where there's to be the vital handover of the key at a spectacular gala held by the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby).

The Venetian base at which the IMF team arrive is the Conservatory of Music Benedetto Marcello (the Venice Conservatory), Fondamenta Narisi, 2810, housed in Palazzo Pisani a Santo Stefano in the sestiere of San Marco.

No stranger to action movies, the Conservatory has featured in two Bond movies of different eras – 1979s Moonraker and in 2006’s Casino Royale].

As we've already seen, the interior is that studio set which was used as the 'Amsterdam' safe-house, but there's even more trickery.

The palazzo doesn't offer a spectacular view across the Grand Canal to the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. The 'balcony' was mocked up on the roof of the luxurious Gritti Palace Hotel, San Marco 2467, Campo Santa Maria del Giglio, which really does look across to the church. Back in 1996, the historic luxury hotel was featured in Woody Allen’s musical Everyone Says I Love You.

White Widow’s great gala is held in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducal (Doge’s Palace) in the Piazzetta San Marco and, yes, for much of the time it's the real thing enlivened with projected animations its builders could never have dreamed of.

But even the MI production team can't close down such a major landmark for endless retakes so closer scenes featuring the main cast were filmed on a studio reconstruction.

When the White Widow shows up, there's more double-dealing, deception and hasty exits. With Venice being car-free, the chases are necessarily on foot. Although the alley in which Ethan and Paris face off is a studio set, most of the action involves running through Venice's narrow and intriguingly confusing passages.

When it comes to the cast-iron bridge on which Ilsa fights Gabriel (Esai Morales), I assumed that this perfect spot was a studio recreation and – again – I was wrong. This is Ponte dei Conzafelzi, at the junction of Rio di San Giovanni Laterano and Rio della Tetta in the Castello district. It's enticing enough also to have been seen in Luc Besson's 1990 Nikita and Kenneth Branagh’s 2023 A Haunting In Venice.

In my defence, the city is so extraordinarily theatrical that at night it’s easy to mistake some sections for an extravagant set.

I'm assuming you've seen the film so you'll know that Ilsa is killed in the fight, requiring Grace to be inducted into the IMF team for the next phase of the operation.

Her role is to impersonate the White Widow for yet another key exchange, using one of those unfeasibly convincing rubber masks, this time aboard the Orient Express as it barrels through the "Austrian Alps".

The coach interiors are in the studio but the mountainous landscape is real, though it's not Austria but Norway.

The line is the Rauma Railway, one of Norway's most beautiful train rides, which runs through the Romsdalen Valley to Åndalsnes in the western ‘bulge’ of Norway, around 270 miles north (by road) of Bergen.

The Rauma Railway was also seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as the Hogwarts Express rushes through the snowy landscape.

Close-up shots of the speeding train were filmed using the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in Levisham, North Yorkshire.

But we're definitely in Norway for the dizzying cliff overlooking the line, from which Ethan is forced to perform the risky bike leap, which is Helsetkopen, part of the Geirangerfjord, which overlooks the Hellesylt Valley.

An incredibly huge scaffold jump was erected atop Helsetkopen, a ridge above a sheer vertical drop often used by base jumpers. The stunt was performed for real but the ramp was replaced digitally by the rocky point we see onscreen.

Real, too, is the freefall, which you can probably tell by the effect on Cruise's face, though this was a leap from a ‘copter. And don't forget the cinematographer who also had to make a leap to capture the moment.

The Director's Commentary goes to great lengths to assure us the fights atop the train were filmed practically, which is understandable. It's easy to assume these days that everything is done in the studio with green screen but MI strives for a level of physical reality that is almost tangible.

After plans to blow up a real disused bridge in Poland were blocked by the protests of conservationists, the mockup Britannia Class locomotive was filmed careering over the edge of Darlton Quarry, Middleton Dale, Stoney Middleton in Derbyshire. It's a limestone quarry in the Peak District National Park favoured by rock climbers. The bridge seen in the film, loosely modelled on Rauma Railway's Kylling Bridge, was added digitally.

As the remains of the train dangle over a perilous drop, Ethan makes a dangerous leap using the speedwing thoughtfully supplied by Luther.

This involves speed-flying, which is apparently faster, lower and more risky than mere hang-gliding. The sequence was filmed in the UK's Lake District in Cumbria, alongside Buttermere from the peak of High Crag to Honister Pass where Benji awaits and we're left with the cliffhanger for Part Two.

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