diff --git a/cli/command/cli.go b/cli/command/cli.go
index a8b4c88bca..28253f8c16 100644
--- a/cli/command/cli.go
+++ b/cli/command/cli.go
@@ -273,6 +273,11 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) Initialize(opts *cliflags.ClientOptions, ops ...CLIOption)
 			return ResolveDefaultContext(cli.options, cli.contextStoreConfig)
 		},
 	}
+
+	// TODO(krissetto): pass ctx to the funcs instead of using this
+	cli.createGlobalMeterProvider(cli.baseCtx)
+	cli.createGlobalTracerProvider(cli.baseCtx)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/cli/command/telemetry.go b/cli/command/telemetry.go
index 92e80420ac..8db51c0596 100644
--- a/cli/command/telemetry.go
+++ b/cli/command/telemetry.go
@@ -41,35 +41,25 @@ type TelemetryClient interface {
 	// each time this function is invoked.
 	Resource() *resource.Resource
 
-	// TracerProvider returns a TracerProvider. This TracerProvider will be configured
-	// with the default tracing components for a CLI program along with any options given
-	// for the SDK.
-	TracerProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdktrace.TracerProviderOption) TracerProvider
+	// TracerProvider returns the currently initialized TracerProvider. This TracerProvider will be configured
+	// with the default tracing components for a CLI program
+	TracerProvider() trace.TracerProvider
 
-	// MeterProvider returns a MeterProvider. This MeterProvider will be configured
-	// with the default metric components for a CLI program along with any options given
-	// for the SDK.
-	MeterProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdkmetric.Option) MeterProvider
+	// MeterProvider returns the currently initialized MeterProvider. This MeterProvider will be configured
+	// with the default metric components for a CLI program
+	MeterProvider() metric.MeterProvider
 }
 
 func (cli *DockerCli) Resource() *resource.Resource {
 	return cli.res.Get()
 }
 
-func (cli *DockerCli) TracerProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdktrace.TracerProviderOption) TracerProvider {
-	allOpts := make([]sdktrace.TracerProviderOption, 0, len(opts)+2)
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, sdktrace.WithResource(cli.Resource()))
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, dockerSpanExporter(ctx, cli)...)
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, opts...)
-	return sdktrace.NewTracerProvider(allOpts...)
+func (cli *DockerCli) TracerProvider() trace.TracerProvider {
+	return otel.GetTracerProvider()
 }
 
-func (cli *DockerCli) MeterProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdkmetric.Option) MeterProvider {
-	allOpts := make([]sdkmetric.Option, 0, len(opts)+2)
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, sdkmetric.WithResource(cli.Resource()))
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, dockerMetricExporter(ctx, cli)...)
-	allOpts = append(allOpts, opts...)
-	return sdkmetric.NewMeterProvider(allOpts...)
+func (cli *DockerCli) MeterProvider() metric.MeterProvider {
+	return otel.GetMeterProvider()
 }
 
 // WithResourceOptions configures additional options for the default resource. The default
@@ -122,6 +112,28 @@ func (r *telemetryResource) init() {
 	r.opts = nil
 }
 
+// createGlobalMeterProvider creates a new MeterProvider from the initialized DockerCli struct
+// with the given options and sets it as the global meter provider
+func (cli *DockerCli) createGlobalMeterProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdkmetric.Option) {
+	allOpts := make([]sdkmetric.Option, 0, len(opts)+2)
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, sdkmetric.WithResource(cli.Resource()))
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, dockerMetricExporter(ctx, cli)...)
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, opts...)
+	mp := sdkmetric.NewMeterProvider(allOpts...)
+	otel.SetMeterProvider(mp)
+}
+
+// createGlobalTracerProvider creates a new TracerProvider from the initialized DockerCli struct
+// with the given options and sets it as the global tracer provider
+func (cli *DockerCli) createGlobalTracerProvider(ctx context.Context, opts ...sdktrace.TracerProviderOption) {
+	allOpts := make([]sdktrace.TracerProviderOption, 0, len(opts)+2)
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, sdktrace.WithResource(cli.Resource()))
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, dockerSpanExporter(ctx, cli)...)
+	allOpts = append(allOpts, opts...)
+	tp := sdktrace.NewTracerProvider(allOpts...)
+	otel.SetTracerProvider(tp)
+}
+
 func defaultResourceOptions() []resource.Option {
 	return []resource.Option{
 		resource.WithDetectors(serviceNameDetector{}),
diff --git a/cmd/docker/docker.go b/cmd/docker/docker.go
index b87c24fba7..3021184dd3 100644
--- a/cmd/docker/docker.go
+++ b/cmd/docker/docker.go
@@ -307,9 +307,13 @@ func runDocker(ctx context.Context, dockerCli *command.DockerCli) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	mp := dockerCli.MeterProvider(ctx)
-	defer mp.Shutdown(ctx)
-	otel.SetMeterProvider(mp)
+	mp := dockerCli.MeterProvider()
+	if mp, ok := mp.(command.MeterProvider); ok {
+		defer mp.Shutdown(ctx)
+	} else {
+		fmt.Fprint(dockerCli.Err(), "Warning: Unexpected OTEL error, metrics may not be flushed")
+	}
+
 	dockerCli.InstrumentCobraCommands(cmd, mp)
 
 	var envs []string