When they took a trip up the world's tallest building, the Eisenmanns were expecting the view to be something special.

But the Thorpe St Andrew family could not believe their eyes when they came face-to-face with Tom Cruise, dangling in mid-air outside the window of the 2,717ft skyscraper.

The 48-year-old Hollywood star, suspended by several safety wires, was filming a stunt sequence for Mission: Impossible IV in which he chased another actor around the outside of the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai.

Caitlin Eisenmann, 42, her husband Simon, 45, and their daughter Imogen, seven, were looking out from the observation deck on the 124th floor of the tower when they caught sight of the Hollywood megastar.

The family, from St Andrews Park, were on holiday, visiting Mrs Eisenmann's brother Daniel Mathew, who lives in Dubai where he has his own meteorology business.

They had gone for a trip up the tower with Mr Mathew, 39, his wife Carrie, 37, and their children Luke, six, and Eva, four.

'We went up to the viewing lounge and were having a look round,' said Mrs Eisenmann.

'A man appeared on a wire outside the window. I said, 'It's someone cleaning the windows', but I thought it was odd that they weren't on some kind of contraption.

'Someone else said it looked like Tom Cruise, so we went for a closer look. We saw these feet going up, but we thought 'What goes up must come down'.

'Sure enough, he came down again and was dangling in front of the window - and it was Tom Cruise! My brother was filming him on his video camera, and I was taking pictures on my iPhone.

'He smiled and stuck his thumbs up. He looked like he was enjoying himself and didn't look scared at all. It was amazing to be just the width of a pane of glass away from him. You could even see the hairs on his legs!'

Mrs Eisenmann, who runs her own travel website business, said she had been a fan of the star's early films, including Top Gun, and now had renewed respect for him.

'I was amazed that he would be doing his own stunts. It was a very long way up, so I was seriously impressed,' she said.

'We go out to Dubai every year and you get used to seeing famous people, but we've never seen anyone quite like him before. He's probably the biggest star in the world.'

The Mission: Impossible franchise has earned nearly $1.5bn (�938m) at the worldwide box office. The fourth film in the series is scheduled for release on December 16.

Work began on the Burj Khalifa Tower in 2004 and was completed in October last year. The tower was officially opened in January, taking the title of the world's tallest building from Taipei 101, a 1,670ft skyscraper in Taiwan.

t Have you snapped a celebrity in ususual circumstances? Contact the newsdesk on 01603 772443 or email newsdesk@archant.co.uk