Back in August when Jeremy Renner joined the cast of Mission: Impossible IV, Variety reported that the film may not even be called Mission: Impossible, stating that “It’s possible that the title won’t even include the familiar moniker, much as Christopher Nolan‘s Batman sequel was simply titled The Dark Knight”.

Now, during a press conference for the film in Dubai at the world’s highest building (Burj Khalifa), Tom Cruise revealed that the title for the upcoming film will be Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Cruise said,

“One of the things that I always wanted with the franchise was for it to not have a number afterwards, because I haven’t made sequels of films, and I never really thought of these films as sequels”.

“When you see each one of them, I think it’s distinctive of each film-maker” who has worked on the series. “It’s a series that I love doing,”

They are filming at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and while story details are being kept quiet, Cruise said “I’ll be spending many days, many hours on the side of this building. I can’t give you details, but I will be up there.”

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is being directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux and Anil Kapoor.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is slated to hit theaters on December 16th, 2011.