All the Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning filming locations you can actually visit

While Doge’s Palace in Venice does host events like the one we saw in Mission: Impossible 7, these happen after hours. You can visit it in during the day for a fee. (Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures and Skydance)

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One released in cinemas on July 12, 2023. As with all Mission: Impossible movies, MI7 has been shot in different parts of the world. While the movie begins inside a submarine, the narrative quickly shifts to stunning locales around the world. Here are all the Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning filming locations you can actually visit.

The Empty Quarter, Abu Dhabi

From the depths of the sea, the action moves to the deserts of the Middle East. We see Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) trying to track down Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust in the desert, even as mercenaries are looking for her.

This scene has been shot at Rub’ al Khali or The Empty Quarter, a 650,000 sq km uninterrupted desert that’s spread across Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates. The sheer size of the desert can boggle one’s mind – it’s about as large as France.

The best-known hotel in Rub’ al Khali is Anantara Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort, which was also featured in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby. Using the five-star oasis as a base, you can explore activities such as camel trekking or dune bashing in the barren landscape that surrounds you.

Midfield Terminal, Abu Dhabi

The state-of-the-art airport at Abu Dhabi where Ethan Hunt faces off with CIA spooks and manages to escape is the Midfield Terminal. Even though you see the terminal being fully functional, it is far from complete. The terminal building was supposed to be up and running in 2017 but has since hit a lot of delays. But when it does get completed later this year, the 700,000 sq ft Midfield Terminal is expected to accommodate some 45 million passengers.

Spanish Steps, Rome

After Abu Dhabi, Ethan Hunt figures he is dealing with an adversary like he’s never faced before. While he aborts the mission at the Midfield Terminal and asks his friends to run away, he follows Haley Atwell’s Grace to Rome.

In Rome, the twosome finds themselves in the midst of a high-speed car chase trying to simultaneously evade the Roman police and Paris (Pom Klementieff), the newest villain in the Mission: Impossible universe.

The chase in a tiny fiat should qualify for the top 3 on-screen chases in a small car but nothing prepares you for the part where the yellow vehicle makes its way down the 300-year-old Spanish Steps that connect Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinita dei Monti. Even the most cynical moviegoers are bound to have their jaws drop watching Hunt drive right down the cascade of stairs.

The Spanish Steps are a famous Roman landmark immortalized by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. They have since featured in several movies, and remain a major tourist attraction.

More recently, the Spanish Steps were in the news when local authorities introduced a hefty €250 fine for sitting down on any of the 136 steps and some €400 for littering.

Doge’s Palace, Venice

From Rome, the action moves to Venice where Vanessa Kirby’s enigmatic arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis or The White Widow is hosting a party inside the iconic Doge’s Palace.

The Venetian Gothic palace was once the residence of the Doge (or Duke) of Venice. Built in 1340, Doge’s palace has undergone multiple extensions and modifications before it became a museum in 1923. The Doge of Venice was the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice and the palace served as his seat of power.

In Mission: Impossible 7 the palace comes alive with light, colour, and multiple digital projectors that gave the venue a character like never seen before. The solid 14th century structure was no longer a sombre building but rather venue that came alive.

While Doge’s Palace does host events not unlike the one we saw in Mission: Impossible 7, these happen after hours. You can visit it in during the day for a fee.

Ponte Minich, Venice

Doge’s Palace is perhaps the only scene in the entire film where all the major characters of the movie are assembled in one single place. Alanna Mitsopolis, Grace, Ilsa Faust, Ethan Hunt, and Gabriel gather to pocket the key that could potentially control the AI that is threatening to take over the world. Obviously, the party ends prematurely as Hunt chases Grace and Faust tries to track down Gabriel.

The action culminates on Ponte Minich, the iconic pedestrian bridge in the Sestiere Castello. Ponte in Italian means bridge and this one is named after the surgeon Angelo Minich who bankrolled it and donated some 30,000 lire to the city upon his death in 1893 to ensure the Venetian electrical clocks work accurately.

Helsetkopen Mountain, Norway

The final scenes of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One are shot inside and on top of The Orient Express as it makes its way from Venice to Innsbruck. While the fight sequences on the train are daring to say the least, none of them comes even close to the shot where Tom Cruise rides his motorbike off the edge of Helsetkopen Mountain. As we are told, Cruise performed this stunt himself, opening the parachute just in time.

This entire sequence has been shot on Helsetkopen Mountain some two-hour drive from Ålesund in Norway. Obviously, the folks at Visit Norway have made the most of the publicity that the movie has bought them, organizing a six-day MI7 tour that includes, cycling, driving, climbing, rafting, and hiking.