Systems and methods for breaking program execution on events are described. One of the systems includes an event subsystem for receiving the signaling events generated by one or more associated peripheral devices. The system also includes a command module which is coupled between the event subsystem and a debug module, the command module receives the signaling events from the event subsystem and in response generates break commands. The debug module of the system receives the break commands from the command module and, in response, interrupts the execution of a program of a controller.