Tom Cruise put his eye-watering stunts down to long working hours as he attended the UK premiere of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

The 53-year-old Hollywood A-lister is known for performing his own stunts, and continued the trend with an all-action display reprising the role of spy Ethan Hunt in the fifth instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Appearing on the red carpet at the London Imax last night, Cruise attributed the gruelling stunt scenes – many of them filmed on the streets of London – to years of practice.

He said: “I have trained my whole life, constantly, whether it’s drama or action.

“I don’t sleep much and I love what I do so I’m working many long hours. I usually will break the film down in sequences – I work with the stunt team to train and train.

The actor at the UK premiere of the film Mission: Impossible –Rogue Nation in London. Photo: Neil Hall/ Reuters

“I’ve been doing it for so long, and I never take anything for granted. When we come up with things, there’s so many on every film I can’t include them all.”

He added: “I want something that’s cinematic, that’s character and story – for me, story is king. We have to find ways of putting the audience inside that character. You want those shots but it has to be the right tone – something exhilarating and spine-tingling.”

Swedish-born actress Rebecca Ferguson, who plays love interest Isla Faust in Rogue Nation, described her co-star as ‘the stunt king’.

She said: “To go into a Mission: Impossible with the stunt king himself is like stunt school. Seeing him in action, not only as the work ethic man that he is, but he’s also funny. We have fun.”

Asked about a long-awaited sequel to Top Gun, which was made almost 30 years earlier, Cruise said there were no plans in place.

“I know they’ve [producer Jerry Bruckheimer] talked about it and there’s no commitment to it,” he said. “It’d be fun, I’d like to get back in those jets. I haven’t said yes to Top Gun II – don’t believe everything you read.”