10 Unbelievable Mission Impossible Facts

10. Rogue Nation's The Man Who Knew Too Much Inspiration

Brad Bird may have begun the franchise's upward with his 2011 effort, Ghost Protocol but Christopher McQuarrie's Rogue Nation is the film that well and truly established the Mission Impossible series of films as one of the more high-concept action franchises around. He built upon Bird's penchant for stylish set-pieces, and this was evident in his debut's opera-set sequence.

The set-piece was an inspired callback to a similar sequence in the classic 1956 Hitchcock thriller, The Man Who Knew Too Much, down to the films' protagonists' attempts to prevent the assassination of a political dignitary. Both directors even cue audience members to brace themselves for the leaders' deaths during the performance's climax through showing them the musical notes and connecting them to the actions of the key players (Ethan, Ilsa, Lane's back-up henchman, and the Austrian chancellor).

The operatic musical choices do not end with the set-piece as the film's composer, Joe Kramer, weaves the opera's motif into the film's score, especially in scenes with Ethan and Ilsa to accentuate their strong connection forged during the film's events.