They are four notes that changed the action game: “Dum dum da da.”
That is the musical motif that instantly set the suspenseful stage for many a thrilling spy adventure as the theme song of “Mission: Impossible” – both for the TV series and Tom Cruise’s film franchise that is supposedly coming to a close with the “Final Reckoning” installment that opened in theaters on Friday.
But those two long notes followed by two short ones had a secret message in them hidden by composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the legendary theme for the CBS show that ran from 1966 to 1973. With the “dash dash” standing for “M” and the “dot dot” for “I,” together they mean “MI.”