Could an explosion in the heart of Dubai's financial district be good for business? You'd think not. Unless, of course, the explosion was part of a big-budget (and fictional) movie. So it goes with the upcoming Mission: Impossible film, part of which was filmed in Dubai. The for the film has just been released (after a was leaked earlier this week). It offers a sneak preview of the scenes shot in Dubai. There is the action-packed explosion at the DIFC; a scene shot in the lobby of a posh hotel in the Downtown district; and Tom Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa in what looks like a rather implausible stunt. The duration of the trailer is 2 minutes 22 seconds. Scenes shot in Dubai account for roughly 23.7 seconds of this (I timed it: it's a slow news day, ok?) There are many precedents to suggest that Dubai's tourism industry can expect a boost following the release of the film, which stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg. According to by Sue Beeton, there is a strong link between tourism and movies. (Thanks to for sending a link to this book.) "In 1978, the year after Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released, visitation to Devil's Tower National Monument [which features in the film] increased by a staggering 74%," the book states. "In a survey conducted 11 years after the film's premiere, one-fifth of respondents attributed their initial knowledge of the monument to the movie." The book cites several other examples of how a blockbuster movie can help boost visits to a country, such as the impact of the Lord of the Rings films on tourism in New Zealand. The Mission: Impossible film does not premier until December, so the impact on the tourism industry will not be known until 2012. But judging by the 23.7 seconds of the film's trailer, Dubai can certainly expect lots of international exposure from the release.