"Man on the Edge" was released in September 1995 as the lead single from Iron Maiden’s tenth studio album, The X Factor. Marking a transitional era for the heavy metal giants, it was the first single to feature vocalist Blaze Bayley following Bruce Dickinson's departure.
To capture a dramatic, larger-than-life visual aesthetic for the single, director Samuel Bayer filmed the primary promotional video on location atop the historical Masada Fortress in Israel.
The Masada Fortress is famous primarily as a symbol of heroics, resistance, and tragedy in Jewish history. In 73–74 CE, following a months-long Roman siege aided by a massive earthwork ramp, nearly 1,000 Jewish rebels holding the mountain fortress of Masada chose mass suicide over capture and enslavement when the Tenth Legion breached their walls.
While the Masada shoot is famously documented as the primary location video for "Man on the Edge," the original footage has historically been notoriously difficult to find online in high quality.
The official video published on the official Iron Maiden YouTube channel features an entirely separate, studio-shot version.