6 spectacular ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ locations to visit

A key scene in Dead Reckoning Part One has Vanessa Kirby’s playfully enigmatic arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis – aka ‘The White Widow’ – inviting everyone to a swanky party inside Venice’s Doge’s Palace. Cue the kind of power-play showdown the Doge himself, Venice’s supreme authority in century’s past, might have relished.

Built in 1340, it’s one of Venice’s most famous – and familiar – landmarks. ‘But we wanted to shoot it in a way that had never been done before,’ says director Christopher McQuarrie. ‘So we made it about light and colour, bringing in these digital projectors that actually made the Doge’s Palace a character itself. Rather than just be a solid structure, we wanted the building to feel alive.’

Admission to the Doge’s Palace costs €25 (cheaper if booked in advance). Check out specific tours or exclusive after-hours events online before you visit. It’s located in the central tourist hub of St Mark’s Square.

One of the movie’s earliest action sequences sees Ethan Hunt tracking down Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) in the desert, as mercenaries look to collect on the bounty on her head.

The scene was filmed over 12 days amid the sand dunes and salt flats of The Empty Quarter – aka Rub’ al Khali – which extends for 650,000 km² across Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It’s said to be the world’s largest uninterrupted desert and is almost the size of France, so pick your spot.

One suggestion is to head for Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, a ‘five-star oasis’ that looks like an old Arabian fortress town. On offer are all manner of adventurous activities, including camel trekking and dune bashing. No Ethan-style gun battles, thankfully.

Another key location in the film won’t be visitable until later in 2023: Abu Dhabi’s yet-to-open Midfield Terminal. It will become the biggest international airport terminal in the world and is thus the perfect place for Ethan to throw a host of pursuing CIA wonks off the scent – with a little help from Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell. 

Norway’s Kylling Bridge stands in for Innsbruck, Austria as Ethan Hunt battles his foes aboard a hurtling locomotive in a locomotive sequence to match even the end of Paddington 2. This rugged corner of Norway is popular with Hollywood productions – the final season of Succession also filmed here. 

You can travel along the same 40 kilometres of track as Tom Cruise and co did during filming. Belonging to the Rauma Railway Line, the track was recently named the most beautiful railway line in Europe and cuts a picturesque route through Andalsnes, the mountaineering capital of Norway.

The journey from Dombås to Åndalsnes takes one hour and 40 minutes. Helpfully, the train even slows down as it passes the more photogenic moments of scenery and there’s a pitstop for photos at the Kylling Bridge, suspended 60 metres above the River Rauma.

In a death-defying stunt that would make even Harry Houdini cower behind the nearest sofa, Tom Cruise famously drove a motorbike off the edge of Norway’s Helsetkopen Mountain during filming in September 2020 – opening his parachute just before the film crew’s collective hearts stopped. 

The mountain he drove off is situated about a two-hour drive from Ålesund on the west coast of Norway. Visit Norway recommends joining a guided hiking tour or renting a bike to see the mountain from a safe distance. Motorbiking off the edge of the 1246-metre tall mountain is obviously not recommended.

If you fancy taking in these locations and letting someone else do the heavy lifting, Norway Adventures has a special six-day Mission: Impossible 7 tour. Expect hiking, cycling, driving, rafting and climbing – albeit with a lot less of the deadly peril. 

It wouldn’t be a Tom Cruise action flick without a show-stopping car chase. His latest really delivers on that score, with a white-knuckle demolition derby through the streets of Rome in a tiny Fiat.

Narrowling avoiding destruction along the way are the 300-year-old Spanish Steps, an elegant cascade of stairs that connecting Rome’s Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinita dei Monti. Most filmmakers would shudder at the thought of staging a car chase through such a historic monument. Not Cruise and his director Christopher McQuarrie. ‘They’ve done stuff at night but never shut down for a massive daytime car chase sequence,’ noted supervising location manager David Campbell-Bell of the sequence.

Be careful when visiting the Spanish Steps. Local authorities have introduced strict rules in recent years that can see tourists fined a hefty €250 for sitting down on one of the 136 steps, and up to €400 for dirtying or damaging the steps with litter. We have no idea what the fine is for driving a yellow Fiat 500 down them, but we couldn’t afford it.

Renowned for its many waterways, it stands to reason that Venice – a key location in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – is also home to many pedestrian bridges and thus a host of highly cinematic spots for a climatic fight to the death.

Sure enough, the Ponte Minich features as the backdrop of a showdown between two key characters who do battle by night with the turquoise canal below and the great infinite beckoning the loser.

Named after a surgeon who financed it in the 19th century, Ponte Minich is located in the Sestiere Castello, the largest of Venice’s six neighborhoods and a short walk from some of the city’s most extraordinary architecture. Check out the Scuola Grande di San Marco (Museum of Medical History) and the gothic church of Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, both a short walk away.