After weeks of speculation that the Mission Impossible franchise was returning to the UAE, it seems that we finally know for sure.
Both Director Christopher McQuarrie and star Simon Pegg have posted that they are in Abu Dhabi to film both Mission Impossible 7 and 8, the two sequels that have been in production concurrently across the world since 2020.
On Tuesday evening, after weeks of posting photos in the UAE with only the caption “…” and no clear indication that he was here filming the two films, McQuarrie posted a photo of helicopter in the Abu Dhabi desert flying over a rider on a horse as the sun set in the background, adding the hashtag “#MI7MI8”, finally explicltly saying once and for all that he’s here for the two sequels.
More came on Wednesday, as actor Simon Pegg posted in his Instagram stories a photo of himself first at Heathrow Airport, and second of himself on a plane with a sticker overlaid that read “Tom Cruise – Mission Impossible”, followed by a caption that Pegg added stating “Abu Dhabi here we come!!!”
The sticker could indicate that Tom Cruise is with them as well, but Cruise has yet to post about the occasion. There have reportedly been Cruise sightings around the emirate.
In Mid-January, an on-set source told The Sun that the film would restart production in the UK before going “off to Dubai.” It seems that while the UAE was correct, production would actually continue in Abu Dhabi instead of Dubai.
A key sequence in Mission Impossible 6, titled Mission Impossible: Fallout, found the team filming in Abu Dhabi, as star Tom Cruise completed a death-defying skydive sequence central to the film’s plot. Mission Impossible 4, entitled Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, filmed in Dubai, with the iconic scene of Tom Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa now forever a part of the city’s history.
No official announcement has begun over the two films’ production in Abu Dhabi, either from the studio, the Abu Dhabi Film and TV Commission, nor twofour54, though the bodies have reportedly refused to comment when asked rather than respond negatively.
There have been a number of other indications that filming was set for Abu Dhabi throughout December and January. First, in December, the US Marine Corps posted and deleted a call for volunteers to support filming a major motion picture event from Paramount pictures in both the UK and UAE. The post is still available to read via the Wayback Machine, mentioning locations such as the Abu Dhabi International Airport and Qasr Al Sarab, with shooting dates set for February 5 to 6. The project is referred to as “Project Libra” in the Marines post, which Production Weekly revealed was the working title for Mission Impossible 7 in January.
Also in January, UAE-based Miranda Davidson Studios posted a call for extras from February 5 to 11, though did not mention a project. The National also reported that guests staying in late January in the UFC’s Fight Island bubble were told that they needed to check out as the Mission Impossible shoot had booked out all hotels in the coming future.
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