Abu Dhabi features in upcoming Mission Impossible 7

Movie star Tom Cruise seen on horseback through the Liwa desert

Scenes from the UAE feature in the new trailer for the next Mission: Impossible movie.

After US superstar Tom Cruise was filmed doing a death-defying halo jump — a high-altitude military parachuting manoeuvre — in Abu Dhabi for 2018’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout, the actor and producer returned to the Emirates to shoot various scenes for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.

The shoots took place in February 2021, in Abu Dhabi.

While a new trailer has been released for the film, the seventh instalment in the blockbuster franchise, we’ll have to wait until July 14, 2023, to see it.

In the meantime, UAE residents can spot the Liwa desert and Abu Dhabi International Airport’s Midfield Terminal in the trailer.

The snippet suggests the majestic landscape of the Liwa desert is used for a series of action sequences, including a horse chase and the arrival of military troops.

In the trailer, Cruise also runs down a barren road in the desert, in addition to surveying the vistas beside a horse.

The familiar image of Abu Dhabi airport’s 700,000-square-metre Midfield Terminal also forms the backdrop of an action scene with actors Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg, who are seen sprinting down the concourse.

While the plot details are vague — Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt the spy, returns to the job to rescue the world from malevolent criminals — the film continues the franchise tradition of being an international affair, as shoots also took place in London, Italy, Poland and Norway.