Did Tom Cruise and Will Smith really went on top of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai? Truth REVEALED!

Tom Cruise’s Burj Khalifa Climb in the movie Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise went to new heights both literally and figuratively in November 2010 when he climbed the Burj Khalifa in Dubai while filming for a scene for Million Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

The Hollywood legend, now 60, proudly performs his own stunts after establishing himself as an action star in action films and sci-fi blockbusters.

In 2018 the actor spoke candidly about his injuries during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, but he claimed while his stunts can be ‘nerve-wracking’ he also finds them ‘so exhilarating’.

Reflecting on his career, Tom said: ‘I am a very physical actor and I love doing them. I study and train and take a lot of time figuring it all out. I have broken a lot of bones!

‘The first time of any stunt is nerve wracking but it also exhilarating. I have been told a few times during shooting a stunt to stop smiling!’

Tom has done many death-defying stunts over the years, while filming Mission Impossible 7 in August he leapt from a speeding motorbike as it hurtled off a ramp 500ft in the air.

But one hugely notable stunt was when he took to the tallest building on the planet, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for one of his Mission Impossible films.

In the scene, Tom is seen jumping out of the window and swinging from a rope, and in some takes he runs across a the windows of the building horizontally below the tower’s Observation Deck, 124 floors above the ground during a chase scene.

Fearless Cruise also used his hands and feet to do a quick climbing dash up the skyscraper, which stands at 828 metres (2,717 feet).

He had to be harnessed up to specific points on the building to film the scene, with the studio having to reportedly gain special permits on the floors and walls and to ‘break around 26 windows’.

The harness itself quickly cut off circulation because it was so tight, which meant that the shoot had to be filmed as quickly as Cruise could.

In his training, Tom climbed up and down a wall of glass to simulate the outside of the real building, to get himself used to the uncomfortable harness and the difficulty of the stunt.

At a press conference prior to filming, Cruise informed attendees that he would be ‘spending many days [and] many hours on the side of this building. I can’t give details, but I will be up there.’

The actor’s spokeswoman said: ‘Tom has been preparing for the stunt for some time. He believes if he performs the stunts himself, the audience believes more in his character.’

A helicopter hovered just ten feet away from the building as crew inside filmed the scene for the movie.

Did Will Smith Climb to the Top of the Burj Khalifa?

The actor scaled the building’s stairs, and then some.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the world’s tallest building. Standing 160 stories, the building’s spire, along with Dubai’s skyscraper skyline, often peeks above the clouds. So photographs of movie star Will Smith sitting atop the building may look fake — but they’re not.

The “Independence Day” star did climb to the very top of the Burj Khalifa. He did it as part of his new YouTube Originals series, “Best Shape of My Life,” in which Smith strives to, as the title states, get back into shape after gaining weight during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the show, Smith scaled all 2,909 of the skyscraper’s steps, and then some. After climbing the stairs, Smith decided he wanted to get to the very top of the building, its spire. To do that, he had to climb additional ladders.

In June 2021, a photograph of Tom Cruise sitting atop the Burj Khalifa’s spire also went viral. The picture was taken in 2011 during the filming of the fourth installment of the “Mission Impossible” film series.