Synopsis

After an IMF mission in Prague goes catastrophically wrong, Ethan Hunt is blamed for the deaths of his team and suspected of being a traitor. Forced to operate outside official channels, he assembles a small crew and pursues the real mole. His investigation leads to a dangerous alliance, an impossible CIA vault break-in, and a desperate chase aboard a speeding train.

Factoids & Trivia

• Tom Cruise developed the film as the first project of Cruise/Wagner Productions and served as a producer. It became the first entry in the long-running Mission: Impossible film franchise.

• The movie is based on the 1966 television series created by Bruce Geller, but it reshaped the material around Ethan Hunt as its central character.

• Principal photography ran from March 13 to August 8, 1995. Prague was used extensively for contemporary locations, making the production one of the early major Hollywood features to film in the city after the end of communist rule.

• The restaurant explosion was built around specially constructed aquariums containing roughly 16 tons of water. The sequence was considered hazardous because of the amount of glass involved.

• During the CIA vault sequence, Cruise reportedly placed British pound coins in his shoes to help keep his body level while suspended above the floor.

• The climactic train sequence required powerful artificial wind to sell the force of the train's speed. The production used a specialized wind machine capable of producing gusts of up to about 140 miles per hour.

• Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton's dance version of Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme became an international hit and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

• The film opened in the United States on May 22, 1996, in more than 3,000 theaters and became one of the year's highest-grossing releases.