Tom Cruise Reveals the 'Mission: Impossible' Stunt That Was Even Hairier Than That Airplane Ride

"I remember when I did the CIA sequence in [the first] Mission: Impossible - they said 'You can never top that'!" laughs Cruise.

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EXLUSIVE: How Tom Cruise Pulled Off That Incredible Plane Scene

For 2011's Ghost Protocol, Cruise, as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, dangled from the tallest building in the world, and in this year’s sequel Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, he straps himself to the side of an airborne plane, something he described as “the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done.”

But there's more to Rogue Nation than those high-altitude adventures. Cruise, along with director Chris McQuarrie, gave us the lowdown on the title, the new cast, the plot and a stunt that was even scarier than the plane scene.

What does the title Rogue Nation mean?

McQuarrie: “It refers not to the IMF, but to the enemy in this movie. They’re comprised entirely of foreign agents who have, for whatever reason, withdrawn from the service and come together as a coalition and come together to fight against the system that created them. The anti-IMF.”

Cruise is excited about an underwater scene

Cruise: "We have something I've always wanted to do: an underwater sequence without cuts. The kind of training I had to do for that was pretty intense. I've done a lot of underwater scenes, but I've never done one [like this] that will get the audience to lean forward and have a visceral reaction."

There's also a very dangerous motorbike scene

Cruise: "It was physically the most grueling sequence. We're going at very high speed with Simon Pegg as my passenger, drifting through very narrow streets with cameras on [the bike]. I'm not wearing a helmet or pads, and at one point I'm highsiding a guy. It was hairy, actually."

McQuarrie: “That's part of a much larger sequence that takes place in Morocco. We built camera equipment for this movie specifically to shoot this sequence. It's stuff that's never been done before.”

Alec Baldwin's CIA boss hates the IMF

Cruise: "Alec Baldwin is the head of the CIA. There's always been a bit of conflict between the CIA and the IMF, and Alec in this is really dropping the hammer and looking at the things the IMF has done."

McQuarrie: "Alec Baldwin absorbs the IMF into the CIA, so Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg are now working for the CIA. Ethan Hunt is out there somewhere; no one knows where he is. [Alec] wants to bring Ethan Hunt in to make him answer for all the previous things he’s done in those movies. Alec perceives them as crimes and he’s determined to bring him in. Unfortunately he can’t find him!"

British actor Sean Harris' villain is 'lethal'

Cruise: "Sean Harris is incredibly enigmatic and very powerful on screen. He's as powerful a villain as we've had in Mission: Impossible. It really is a chess match between him and Ethan. The guy is very charming, intelligent, but lethal. It’s delicious."

The tone of Rogue Nation is similar to Ghost Protocol

McQuarrie: "I had worked on Ghost Protocol with Tom. [McQuarrie had worked on the script.] We found a sort of tone that we loved and really wanted to preserve that over into this movie. I was determined to do something lighter and more fun, but then this villain evolved, the story evolved, and our team evolved and took it into a different direction."

Rogue Nation will pay tribute to other M:I films

McQuarrie: "I asked myself what can I do to celebrate all those elements of the franchise; a signature sequence the way [original Mission: Impossible director] Brian De Palma did, a villain the way [Mission: Impossible III director] J.J. Abrams did, the stunts the way [Ghost Protocol director] Brad Bird did. You'll see references to all those films throughout the movie. There's [also] a real Easter egg for anyone who notices it — it's almost a reverse of something from one of the earlier movies."

Orlando Parfitt writes for Yahoo Celebrity