While filming the car chase scene which includes a minivan, Emily Blunt was instructed to drive fast and then to take a right hand turn so that the van would shake. However, Blunt missed her mark and she drove the car right into a tree. She later said that it was both hilarious and terrifying, as she almost killed Tom Cruise, who was in the passenger seat, but both of them started laughing after the incident.
Tom Cruise admitted that Emily Blunt was an actress he wanted to work with for a long time, and he recommended her to the producers for the role of Rita.
Tom Cruise didn't want the exo-suits to be too CGI, so it would be more real to the audience. He showed up two months early to research and develop the suit. He thought its weapons were fun and cool. Emily Blunt was unprepared for the weight of the suit which was between 85-90 pounds, and the armaments between 120-125 pounds.
Doug Liman wanted to do the film because it showed a role that Tom Cruise hadn't done yet: someone very bad at what he does.
Emily Blunt said in a podcast interview in Dec. 2022 that after putting on the metal suit, she started crying because it was so heavy (it weighed 85 pounds) and that she didn't think she could perform action scenes in it for five months. Then Tom Cruise told her, "Come on. Stop being such a pussy, okay?" Emily says she laughed at that, and got it together to get the job done.