Tom Cruise performed the sequence where Ethan Hunt scales the outside of the Burj Khalifa tower himself without the use of a stunt double. The Burj Khalifa tower is the tallest building in the world at 2,722 feet, or 829.8 meters. Cruise dangled outside the tower at approximately 1,700 feet, or 518 meters.
During production, Tom Cruise did the majority of his own stunts, including the skyscraper sequence(s), to show the audience it was actually him. This would allow director Brad Bird to have more capabilities with camera angles, and not having to hide the fact that it is a stuntman doing the stunts.
The windows removed from Burj Khalifa were carefully chipped away by two workers with hammers, working from a window washing platform outside the building.
Andreas Wisniewski hands Ethan a similar black mask to place over his head to meet the arms dealer that also appeared in Mission: Impossible (1996), giving him the same style mask when he is being taken to meet Max, an arms dealer.
The elaborate perspective-compensating movable screen, used to conceal anyone behind it during the Moscow Kremlin archives scene, was similarly used during the television series Mission: Impossible (1966) season four, episode sixteen, "The Falcon. Part 3".
Brad Bird: [A113] Ethan uses the call sign "Alpha 113" and "A113" appears on Hanaway's ring. A113 is a frequent in-joke and Easter egg appearing in films produced by Pixar as well as films created by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, based on one of the room numbers for the character animation BFA program. Director Brad Bird is both a Cal Arts alumnus and Pixar movie director, and he has worked an "A113" reference into every one of his feature films, as well as some of his television work.