WATCH: A behind-the-scenes look at dare devil cruise performances

If you’re afraid of heights, you might want to look away, because a video has been released of aerialists, tight-rope walkers, divers and other cruise performers and the vision certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.

“The backstage environment for any theatre production in the world, including straight Broadway plays, is an amazing thing to be part of the design of, because around the outside of a beautiful production is controlled chaos,” says Nick Weir, vice president of Royal Caribbean International Entertainment.

“But you take that now into a different environment, you take it into aquatheatre where we’re dealing with aerial work and sub-aqua work and the whole thing becomes a totally different dimension.”

Read more: Plan your own cruise holiday

Not only are the shows visually spectacular, but they are complicated in their execution.

“These shows are incredibly complex, they’re probably the most complicated shows on any cruise ship in the world, no doubt,” says Alex Williams, stage and production manager of the aquatheatre.

“The only way these shows function is an incredible level of trust and skill between everybody. Everybody has to be on their game 100 per cent, every single day or it just doesn’t work.”

High dive cruise performer Cesillie Carlton, whose dive video went viral earlier this year, told Travel at 60 that there’s nothing quite like the adrenaline rush she receives during a dive performance.

“Doing high dives is both exhilarating, and terrifying at the same time,” Carlton told Travel at 60. “You look down, and you are terrified. You hit the water, the dive goes exactly as planned and it is amazing. The adrenaline rush that you feel is unexplainable.”

Take a look at the video below and get some insight and understanding into what really goes on behind the scenes during cruise performances.

Have you seen some incredible aqua shows on your cruises? Let us know what you thought about them in the comments section below.