DUBAI // The Hollywood star Tom Cruise and others involved in filmingMission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol in Dubai, have finished shooting and left the Emirates this week, several members of the production team said yesterday.
Hundreds of cast and crew members worked overtime for four weeks, finishing on schedule. They shot scenes in at least nine locations - from the desert to the top of the Burj Khalifa to the Palm Jumeirah - sometimes filming in multiple locations at a time.
Cruise sometimes worked at more than one location a day, according to a source whose company worked on the sets.
"It's impressive what they do," the source said. "When they say it costs US$100 million (Dh367.2m), you can understand why - the logistics and the amount of people."
All that planning drew to a conclusion this week when the second unit - which handles the filming of less-important scenes - wrapped a shoot in Satwa. Cruise left the Emirates on Tuesday.
The main unit had finished up on Sunday on the Palm Jumeirah, where they filmed an indoor scene using a crowd of extras, many of them from the subcontinent.
Other locations included the top of the Burj Khalifa, where Cruise dangled from cables; Dubai International Financial Centre , where he sprinted across the outdoor area; Emirates Towers; the Meydan racetrack; Dubai Creek and out in the desert.
Cruise, who arrived in Dubai in late October, also shot scenes at a replica of the Burj Khalifa that had been built in the International Media Production Zone.
[ chuang@thenational.ae ]
