Ethan Hunt’s opening mission in the first Mission: Impossible film takes place in Prague.
The IMF team is sent to the Czech capital for an operation involving an arms dealer, a suspected mole, and a list of covert agents. The mission quickly collapses, leaving Ethan as the apparent survivor and forcing him to investigate what happened to his team.
Prague is more than a backdrop in the film: its streets, historic buildings, and nighttime atmosphere establish the story’s European espionage setting. The opening operation also introduces several important characters, including Jim Phelps, Claire Phelps, Sarah Davies, Jack Harmon, and Franz Krieger.
Viewers sometimes confuse Prague with later European locations in the franchise. The Vatican appears in Mission: Impossible III, while Vienna is central to the opera sequence in Rogue Nation. The first film’s opening operation is specifically set in Prague.