diff --git a/src/TextUI/TestRunner.php b/src/TextUI/TestRunner.php
index 0ed22ce29d6..95d12ecfbdb 100644
--- a/src/TextUI/TestRunner.php
+++ b/src/TextUI/TestRunner.php
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 use PHPUnit\Runner\TestSuiteSorter;
 use PHPUnit\Runner\Version;
 use PHPUnit\Util\Configuration;
+use PHPUnit\Util\Filesystem;
 use PHPUnit\Util\Log\JUnit;
 use PHPUnit\Util\Log\TeamCity;
 use PHPUnit\Util\Printer;
@@ -562,11 +563,18 @@ public function doRun(Test $suite, array $arguments = [], bool $exit = true): Te
             }
 
             if (isset($arguments['xdebugFilterFile'], $filterConfiguration)) {
+                $this->write("\n");
+
                 $script = (new XdebugFilterScriptGenerator)->generate($filterConfiguration['whitelist']);
 
+                if (!Filesystem::createDirectory(\dirname($arguments['xdebugFilterFile']))) {
+                    $this->write(\sprintf('Cannot write Xdebug filter script to %s ' . \PHP_EOL, $arguments['xdebugFilterFile']));
+
+                    exit(self::EXCEPTION_EXIT);
+                }
+
                 \file_put_contents($arguments['xdebugFilterFile'], $script);
 
-                $this->write("\n");
                 $this->write(\sprintf('Wrote Xdebug filter script to %s ' . \PHP_EOL, $arguments['xdebugFilterFile']));
 
                 exit(self::SUCCESS_EXIT);
diff --git a/tests/end-to-end/dump-xdebug-filter.phpt b/tests/end-to-end/dump-xdebug-filter.phpt
index 52818bb454d..5136619a373 100644
--- a/tests/end-to-end/dump-xdebug-filter.phpt
+++ b/tests/end-to-end/dump-xdebug-filter.phpt
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ require __DIR__ . '/../bootstrap.php';
 PHPUnit\TextUI\Command::main();
 --EXPECTF--
 PHPUnit %s by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.
+
 <?php declare(strict_types=1);
 if (!\function_exists('xdebug_set_filter')) {
     return;