One night in Prague, an American spy team sets out to stop a theft. Someone is about to steal the CIA's NOC list, the names of its undercover agents, during a reception at the US Embassy. By the end of the night the team is dead, the list is gone, and the only survivor, Ethan Hunt, is the main suspect. That's the opening of Mission: Impossible, the 1996 film directed by Brian De Palma, produced by and starring Tom Cruise, with a cast that includes Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno and Vanessa Redgrave. It was shot in 1995, partly here in Prague and partly at Pinewood Studios in England, and this walk follows its Prague story through the real streets, telling you as we go which scenes were the city and which were a studio set. It's an unofficial fan walk, not made with or endorsed by the filmmakers or the studio. We start where the night operation begins, cross the bridge where it falls apart, and follow Ethan on the run through the Old Town to Wenceslas Square. Then, at the last stop, we go back inside the embassy party where it all began, and find out who betrayed the team. Spoilers throughout. It's one of our self-guided walking tours, about 3.2 kilometers from Kampa Island to the National Museum.

Before you set off

The walking adds up to about 45 minutes, so allow an hour and a half or more with time at each stop. The route is mostly flat, on cobbles in the Old Town, with a set of steps up onto Charles Bridge and a gentle climb up Wenceslas Square at the end. Wear comfortable shoes. Charles Bridge is crowded for most of the day, so early morning or evening is calmer, and when you stop on the bridge, step aside to the parapet first. The start is a short walk from the Hellichova or Malostranské náměstí tram stops, and the walk ends right above the Muzeum metro station. The Liechtenstein Palace is a working government building, open inside only on occasional open days, so enjoy it from the street and don't linger at its gate. The National Museum and the hotel at stop six have their own opening times, so check before you go if you want to go inside.

Liechtenstein Palace, Kampa

You're on Kampa Island, in front of the Liechtenstein Palace, a Baroque palace at U Sovových mlýnů 4. Look at its gate. Since 1978 the palace has been run by the Czech Government Office, which uses it for official functions and to host state guests. Its suites have welcomed Queen Elizabeth II, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain, and Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. It's a working state building, so look from here and keep moving past the gate.

In the film, this palace plays the American Embassy, or at least its outside. This is where the night operation begins. Inside, a reception is under way, and the team led by Jim Phelps is in position, watching for the moment the list is stolen. Ethan works the party on the inside.

Then everything goes wrong. One by one, the members of the team are killed. Ethan and Sarah leave the embassy through this gate, and just beside the palace, on Na Kampě, the little square nearby, a car bomb goes off. Ethan's team is coming apart around him, and he doesn't know why.

A small truth for film fans. This palace only played the embassy. The real US Embassy is elsewhere in the Lesser Town. And the party you see on screen wasn't filmed inside this building at all. That's a secret we'll keep until the last stop.

Out on the bridge, the night has one more blow to deliver. Walk north across Na Kampě to the stairway that climbs up onto Charles Bridge, and take the steps up, the way Ethan does. About three minutes.

Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge over the Vltava, Prague

You're on Charles Bridge. Step to the parapet so the crowds can pass, and look back toward the stairway you've just climbed from Kampa. That's the way Ethan comes, running up the steps onto the bridge in the dark.

In the film, he arrives just in time to see it happen. Jim Phelps, the leader of the team, is shot on the bridge and falls into the Vltava below. Look over the parapet at the water. That's where he goes. The fall into the river was done by a stuntman.

From that moment, Ethan is on his own. His team is gone, his mission has failed, and the list is lost. He is the only one left standing, and as he'll soon find out, that makes him the obvious suspect.

Stand here a moment and take in the view: the river, the Lesser Town behind you and the Old Town ahead. When the Czech Film Commission later wrote about the fourth film, it looked back at this one: Prague looked gorgeous in it, and its Charles Bridge sequence was memorable. Even in the middle of a spy thriller, the bridge steals the scene.

Keep one thing in mind as we walk on. In a spy film, what you see isn't always what happened. Hold on to that thought. It pays off at the end.

Ethan needs somewhere to hide. Cross the bridge toward the Old Town and go through the tower at its far end. Then turn left along Křižovnická, and turn right into Platnéřská street. About six minutes.

Platnéřská street

You're on Platnéřská, an ordinary Old Town street. In the film, this is the street of the team's safe house. Sources disagree about exactly which doorway it was, so we won't point to one. Just stand on the cobbles and picture the whole street as part of the set.

We've gone back in time a little here, to the very start of the film. Before the night operation, Jim Phelps walks along these cobbles carrying a briefcase. It's a quiet, ordinary moment, an older spy walking through an old city, and it's easy to forget once the shooting starts.

Now jump forward. After the bridge, and after the meeting at our next stop, Ethan comes back to this street to hide. With nobody left to trust, he uses the safe house as his hideout, and from here he reaches out for help in a very dangerous direction.

The rooms you see inside the safe house weren't in Prague at all. The interiors were filmed at Pinewood, in England. Filming ran from March to August 1995, split between this city and the studio. So when Ethan steps off this street and through a door, he's crossing, without you noticing, from Prague to England.

But before he can hide, he has a meeting to keep. His agency has called him in, and the place they've chosen is just around the corner, on the great square of the Old Town. Keep heading east to the end of Platnéřská, cross the small square at its end, Mariánské náměstí, and follow the lanes east into Old Town Square. About five minutes.