diff --git a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
index bdb5a64875..73059578f9 100644
--- a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
+++ b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ func newPluginCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli, plugin *cobra.Command, meta
 			DisableDescriptions: true,
 		},
 	}
-	opts, flags := cli.SetupPluginRootCommand(cmd)
+	opts, _ := cli.SetupPluginRootCommand(cmd)
 
 	cmd.SetIn(dockerCli.In())
 	cmd.SetOut(dockerCli.Out())
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ func newPluginCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli, plugin *cobra.Command, meta
 
 	cli.DisableFlagsInUseLine(cmd)
 
-	return cli.NewTopLevelCommand(cmd, dockerCli, opts, flags)
+	return cli.NewTopLevelCommand(cmd, dockerCli, opts, cmd.Flags())
 }
 
 func newMetadataSubcommand(plugin *cobra.Command, meta manager.Metadata) *cobra.Command {
diff --git a/cli/cobra.go b/cli/cobra.go
index 178e820fd0..5ab1f0b2b8 100644
--- a/cli/cobra.go
+++ b/cli/cobra.go
@@ -22,10 +22,9 @@ import (
 
 // setupCommonRootCommand contains the setup common to
 // SetupRootCommand and SetupPluginRootCommand.
-func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet, *cobra.Command) {
-	flags := rootCmd.Flags()
+func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *cobra.Command) {
 	opts := cliflags.NewClientOptions()
-	opts.InstallFlags(flags)
+	opts.InstallFlags(rootCmd.Flags())
 
 	cobra.AddTemplateFunc("add", func(a, b int) int { return a + b })
 	cobra.AddTemplateFunc("hasAliases", hasAliases)
@@ -70,20 +69,20 @@ func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *p
 		}
 	}
 
-	return opts, flags, helpCommand
+	return opts, helpCommand
 }
 
 // SetupRootCommand sets default usage, help, and error handling for the
 // root command.
-func SetupRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet, *cobra.Command) {
+func SetupRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (opts *cliflags.ClientOptions, helpCmd *cobra.Command) {
 	rootCmd.SetVersionTemplate("Docker version {{.Version}}\n")
 	return setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
 }
 
 // SetupPluginRootCommand sets default usage, help and error handling for a plugin root command.
 func SetupPluginRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet) {
-	opts, flags, _ := setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
-	return opts, flags
+	opts, _ := setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
+	return opts, rootCmd.Flags()
 }
 
 // FlagErrorFunc prints an error message which matches the format of the
diff --git a/cmd/docker/docker.go b/cmd/docker/docker.go
index d18125a634..30c48b40d1 100644
--- a/cmd/docker/docker.go
+++ b/cmd/docker/docker.go
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import (
 func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cli.TopLevelCommand {
 	var (
 		opts    *cliflags.ClientOptions
-		flags   *pflag.FlagSet
 		helpCmd *cobra.Command
 	)
 
@@ -55,9 +54,9 @@ func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cli.TopLevelCommand {
 	cmd.SetOut(dockerCli.Out())
 	cmd.SetErr(dockerCli.Err())
 
-	opts, flags, helpCmd = cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
+	opts, helpCmd = cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
 	registerCompletionFuncForGlobalFlags(dockerCli, cmd)
-	flags.BoolP("version", "v", false, "Print version information and quit")
+	cmd.Flags().BoolP("version", "v", false, "Print version information and quit")
 	setFlagErrorFunc(dockerCli, cmd)
 
 	setupHelpCommand(dockerCli, cmd, helpCmd)
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ func newDockerCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) *cli.TopLevelCommand {
 	setValidateArgs(dockerCli, cmd)
 
 	// flags must be the top-level command flags, not cmd.Flags()
-	return cli.NewTopLevelCommand(cmd, dockerCli, opts, flags)
+	return cli.NewTopLevelCommand(cmd, dockerCli, opts, cmd.Flags())
 }
 
 func setFlagErrorFunc(dockerCli command.Cli, cmd *cobra.Command) {
diff --git a/docs/generate/generate.go b/docs/generate/generate.go
index c9187c2c0d..a24aba1813 100644
--- a/docs/generate/generate.go
+++ b/docs/generate/generate.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func gen(opts *options) error {
 		Use:   "docker [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARG...]",
 		Short: "The base command for the Docker CLI.",
 	}
-	clientOpts, _, _ := cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
+	clientOpts, _ := cli.SetupRootCommand(cmd)
 	if err := dockerCLI.Initialize(clientOpts); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}