He was hanging from the door of the aircraft on two safety harnesses but used the fixtures on the four engine military vehicle to grip with both hands.
And the 5ft 6" actor spared himself the protective clothing, dressing as Ethan in a charcoal slim fit suit that gave him limited movement and scaling the moving airbus in just brown brogues to offer him minimal grip.
Mission Impossible 5, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, sees Tom reprise his role as Ethan, a Field Agent for secret agency Impossible Mission Force, for a fifth time.
The fourth installment Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was released in December 2011 and grossed more than $700million at the box office worldwide.
And the follow up is sure to be an exciting one as Tom was straight up to heights of 5,000ft on what was to be a clear day for flying in the rural UK location.
Tom - famous for action hero roles in movies such as Roy Miller in Knight And Day and Maverick in cult classic Top Gun - was shown the ropes by a double wearing his identical suit and an engineer wearing a boiler suit.
But the stunt pro didn't need much convincing when it came to doing it himself, in what was to be his most ambitious stunt to date.
When Tom scaled the Burj Khalifa in Dubai for the movie's prequel Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, he described the experience as a "learning on the job" approach, in conversation with Total Film.
He said: "I literally had to figure a way to fly because even with months of training, I didn't anticipate the crosswinds you get when you're up that high.
"Once I figured out how to use my feet as rudders and got the spatial awareness, we got the shots we wanted."
Not short of its action packed scenes, the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible box set, also saw the father of three free run across moving vehicles and mount a moving car in the grips of a desert sand storm.
The fourth Mission Impossible film was Cruise's biggest commercial success to date - a film that came after his personal struggles with a divorce from estranged wife Katie Holmes, with whom he has daughter Suri Cruise, eight.
He has previously been married to actresses Nicole Kidman (who he had two children with, Isabella Jane Cruise and Connor Cruise) as well as Mimi Rogers.
Tom was recently romantically linked to Mean Girls actress Lindsay Lohan - who is also in the UK for a West End role in Speed-The-Plow - but representatives later denied claims that the pair were "secretly dating" after exchanging numbers at London hotspot The Chiltern Firehouse in early October this year.
Besides Great Britain, the New York native has also been filming in Monaco, Austria and Morocco alongside stunt co-ordinator Wade Eastwood, who ensures that all of Tom's daredevil scenes are filmed with the Academy Award winning actor's safety in mind.
On set, a stunt man appears to demonstrate the thrilling sequence ahead of Tom's efforts, though he doesn't dress in Ethan's costume, suggesting the scenes wouldn't be used for the film.
Tom once said that he "didn't get scared" when it came to performing his own stunts and said that it was part of him doing the character justice.
Talking to British television host Graham Norton in 2012, the actor admitted: "People do say no, but as an actor you bring everything, physically and emotionally, to a character.
"I'm able to do them (stunts). I've trained for 30 years doing things like that. I don't get scared. It's quite technical but sometimes things go wrong."
Tom has also played emotive and comedic roles in Rain Man and Jerry Maguire, but from the start of his Hollywood career, Tom's characater choices have been predominantly action heroes.
In his first big film role in 1981, the heartthrob played Cadet Captain David Shawn in Taps and he later admitted that stepping into the role was a terrifying experience.
To W Magazine, the actor recalled: "I didn't want to look like I was dumb but between takes I pulled the guy aside and said, "Have you done this before? You're not going to shoot me, are you?" I was terrified that my first big part would be my last."
Mission Impossible 5 is due in cinemas in later 2015 and sees performances from Hollywood royalty Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin and Jeremy Renner.
Tom Cruise: some of the actor's most dangerous stunts
1. A sword fight on horseback
Film: The Last Samurai
Tom was acting out a scene with Japanese co-star Hiroyuki Sanada when a technical fault nearly led to tragedy. The two men were approaching one another on mechanical horses and Sanada's horse was meant to stop a split second before he swung his sword at Cruise's head. But the mechanism failed and the horse carried on towards Cruise - whose life was saved by Sanada's expert martial arts skills.
"One day we were shooting, I was on a mechanical horse and Hero was on one too," Cruise said. "He was approaching me and then suddenly his horse hit me and his sword was right here (pointed an inch from his neck). Luckily Hero is trained in martial arts. I trust him."
2. Scaling the world's tallest building
Film: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
In the fourth installment of the movie franchise, Tom's character Ethan Hunt can be seen running down the side of the Burj Khalifa and it was all Tom's own work.
Speaking about the stunt, he previously told Total Film: "I literally had to figure a way to fly, because even with months of training, I didn't anticipate the crosswinds you get when you're up that high. Once I figured out how to use my feet as rudders and got the spatial awareness, we got the shots we wanted."
3. Free climbing on dead horse point
Film: Mission: Impossible 2
The opening sequence for the sequel still has the power to shock today. Cruise (in character as Hunt) can be seen free-climbing on Dead Horse Point, Utah. While Tom used ropes, the action scenes were so intense that he tore a shoulder muscle.
4. Free running with bare feet
Film: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible is the franchise where Tom has done some of his most impressive stunts and the fourth movie features a memorable scene. In the action sequence he can be seen throwing himself out of windows and from the top of buildings and he does it all in his bare feet.
5. Motorcycle switch and running with live bulls
Film: Knight And Day
Tom came up with this stunt himself as he once again pushed himself to the limit on a movie. In the scene, his co-star Cameron Diaz's character can be seen climbing over him while they ride a motorcycle at breakneck speed.
Tom told Total Film: "I called James Mangold and I said, 'I've got this motorcycle stunt. We've gotta put a motorcycle in this scene and I've gotta flip her around.'"
And later he rode the motorbike through a bull run, choosing real live animals rather than CGI.
- Daily Mail
