Inception: From Paris to the Snow Fortress

Cobb recruits the architecture student Ariadne, and Paris becomes her classroom in dream-building. The crew filmed the 'Paris folding' sequence and the moment Ariadne creates her bridges here, using green screen and CGI on location — the Bir-Hakeim bridge was the last of the Paris shoots. The bridge crosses the Seine between the 15th and 16th arrondissements, with Metro Line 6 running on its upper deck, and it has hosted films from Ronin to National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Visitor guidance: Open to pedestrians between the 15th and 16th arrondissements; Metro Line 6 crosses on the upper deck.

Over coffee nearby, Cobb puts Ariadne to the test: the street outside their bistro explodes while she learns how dream architecture works. The bistro was a fictional set built at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue Bouchut, and Paris authorities would not allow real explosives, so the blast was staged without them. None of the set survives today; the pin marks Rue César Franck by its corner with Rue Bouchut.

Location precision: The bistro was a fictional set built for the shoot; the pin marks Rue César Franck near its corner with Rue Bouchut.

Cobb comes to Mombasa to hire the forger Eames and the chemist Yusuf, the team he needs after accepting the job: his criminal history erased as payment for implanting an idea into a target's subconscious. Tangier, Morocco, doubled as Mombasa, and the film's foot chase was shot in the streets and alleyways of the historic medina quarter. The exact alleys were never named, so the pin marks the medina itself.

Location precision: The shoot used unnamed alleys of the medina quarter; the pin marks the medina of Tangier.

The first level of the dream is a raining city dreamt by Yusuf, and downtown Los Angeles plays it: the production staged a multi-vehicle car chase on its streets, with a freight train crashing down the middle of the road. The downpour is fake as well — Los Angeles stayed sunny, so rooftop water cannons gave the impression of overcast, soggy weather. The exact streets were never specified; the pin marks downtown Los Angeles.

Location precision: The film used unspecified downtown streets; the pin marks downtown Los Angeles.

The film's climactic van scene was shot here: Yusuf's kick comes too soon when he drives off the bridge, and a Ford Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion. The bridge was a vertical-lift bridge in the Port of Los Angeles. Do not expect the 2009 view — the old bridge was decommissioned in 2015 and replaced by a new fixed-span bridge on the same crossing.

The third level of the dream is an alpine fortress dreamt by Eames, and Nolan found it in the snow: final-phase photography took place in Alberta in late November 2009, after the location manager discovered the temporarily closed Fortress Mountain ski resort. The Inception fortress scenes were shot there. The resort sits near the Kananaskis Trail, about 115 km west of Calgary.