Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation trailer: Tom Cruise held his breath for 6 minutes to film one-shot underwater sequence

Actor described it as pretty 'taxing'

(Paramount)

Tom Cruise's dedication to doing his own stunts knows no bounds. The first trailer for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation saw him clinging to a plane as it took off, and the second featured an underwater sequence that required weeks of training.

Cruise did breath-holds of 6 to 6 1/2 minutes for it, just so there wouldn't be any unsightly cuts.

He told USA Today:

"It’s something I have always wanted to do. (Director Christopher McQuarrie) and I have been thinking about it since working on ‘Edge of Tomorrow.’ I have done a lot of underwater sequences. But we wanted to create a suspense underwater sequence without cuts. So doing that sequence was really interesting. We’re underwater and we’re doing breath-holds of 6 to 61/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff."

"When you’re making 'Mission' movies you're working with athletes and stunt people at the height of their game."

Cruise seems intent on outdoing himself stunt-wise with each sequel in the MI franchise, having previously abseiled down the Burj Khalifa in Dubai for Ghost Protocol.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation also stars Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg and opens in cinemas on 30 July, 2015.

@christophhooton