The film, titled Get the Gringo for the US, sees Gibson take on the role of 'Driver', a criminal who learns to survive in a Mexican prison with the help of a 10-year-old boy.
Director Adrian Grunberg told Digital Spy of the sequence: "As important as opening sequences are, and as common as car chases are, I don't remember one running across the border. Speed. That is the one thing I needed from the beginning. Real speed.
"Not speed achieved by editing, but having the ability to go as fast as the vehicles could. The idea of a persecution in a desert landscape, with no real obstacles, had to be very fast."
Kevin Hernandez, Peter Stormare and Dean Norris are among the supporting cast for the How I Spent My Summer Vacation, which is from the producers of Gibson's Braveheart and Apocalypto.
It marks Gibson's first screen role since he appeared in The Beaver. He can next be seen is Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 24.
