Check out Tom Cruise performing a death-defying stunt for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol!

You know what? Tom Cruise is crazy. The awesome kind of crazy.

This past weekend, Cruise was seen filming an insane-looking action sequence for Brad Bird’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL, running alongside the outer windows of the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world standing at 2,717 ft. A helicopter flew incredibly close to the action as it filmed a sequence that apparently features Cruise on a sky-high foot chase.

And in case you’re doubting that that’s really Cruise, the actor himself confirmed a few days ago that he’d be up there pulling a Spider-Man: “I’ll be spending many days, many hours on the side of this building. I can’t give details, but I will be up there.” His spokeswoman added: “Tom has been preparing for the stunt for some time. He believes if he performs the stunts himself, the audience believes more in his character.”

If there’s one thing I’ve always admired about Cruise that even his detractors could never deny, it’s that he always brings a very real, very believable intensity and physicality to his action performances. It’s a great thing that I think too often goes ignored when we’re talking about actors and the things they choose or choose not to do on screen. Here are Cruise’s thoughts doing his own stunts:

“I love having the camera right there in front of me, where you can see me holding a shot all the way through. I think it adds to the excitement for an audience. It’s something that is challenging to do and fun for me. There’s always that adrenalin before you do a stunt. But we go through everything, we prepare and we make sure we are ready.”

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL opens December 16, 2011.