diff --git a/.changeset/clever-lizards-whisper.md b/.changeset/clever-lizards-whisper.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f2820c347
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/clever-lizards-whisper.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/cli': patch
+---
+
+When building a backend package with dependencies any `--config <path>` options will now be forwarded to any dependent app package builds, unless the build script in the app package already contains a `--config` option.
diff --git a/docs/deployment/docker.md b/docs/deployment/docker.md
index 88c22afb9b..f96204b413 100644
--- a/docs/deployment/docker.md
+++ b/docs/deployment/docker.md
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ The required steps in the host build are to install dependencies with
 `yarn install`, generate type definitions using `yarn tsc`, and build the backend
 package with `yarn build:backend`.
 
-> NOTE: If you created your app prior to 2021-02-18, follow the
-> [migration step](https://github.com/backstage/backstage/releases/tag/release-2021-02-18)
-> to move from `backend:build` to `backend:bundle`.
-
 In a CI workflow it might look something like this:
 
 ```bash
@@ -50,7 +46,8 @@ yarn install --frozen-lockfile
 yarn tsc
 
 # Build the backend, which bundles it all up into the packages/backend/dist folder.
-yarn build:backend
+# The configuration files here should match the one you use inside the Dockerfile below.
+yarn build:backend --config app-config.yaml
 ```
 
 Once the host build is complete, we are ready to build our image. The following
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/build/buildBackend.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/build/buildBackend.ts
index 7e61f9ae85..5d42aa18d4 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/build/buildBackend.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/build/buildBackend.ts
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@ const SKELETON_FILE = 'skeleton.tar.gz';
 interface BuildBackendOptions {
   targetDir: string;
   skipBuildDependencies: boolean;
+  configPaths?: string[];
 }
 
 export async function buildBackend(options: BuildBackendOptions) {
-  const { targetDir, skipBuildDependencies } = options;
+  const { targetDir, skipBuildDependencies, configPaths } = options;
   const pkg = await fs.readJson(resolvePath(targetDir, 'package.json'));
 
   // We build the target package without generating type declarations.
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ export async function buildBackend(options: BuildBackendOptions) {
   try {
     await createDistWorkspace([pkg.name], {
       targetDir: tmpDir,
+      configPaths,
       buildDependencies: !skipBuildDependencies,
       buildExcludes: [pkg.name],
       parallelism: getEnvironmentParallelism(),
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/build/command.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/build/command.ts
index fcaf58e1ee..90b76545ce 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/build/command.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/build/command.ts
@@ -20,20 +20,29 @@ import { findRoleFromCommand, getRoleInfo } from '../../lib/role';
 import { paths } from '../../lib/paths';
 import { buildFrontend } from './buildFrontend';
 import { buildBackend } from './buildBackend';
+import { isValidUrl } from '../../lib/urls';
 
 export async function command(opts: OptionValues): Promise<void> {
   const role = await findRoleFromCommand(opts);
 
-  if (role === 'frontend') {
-    return buildFrontend({
-      targetDir: paths.targetDir,
-      configPaths: opts.config as string[],
-      writeStats: Boolean(opts.stats),
+  if (role === 'frontend' || role === 'backend') {
+    const configPaths = (opts.config as string[]).map(arg => {
+      if (isValidUrl(arg)) {
+        return arg;
+      }
+      return paths.resolveTarget(arg);
     });
-  }
-  if (role === 'backend') {
+
+    if (role === 'frontend') {
+      return buildFrontend({
+        targetDir: paths.targetDir,
+        configPaths,
+        writeStats: Boolean(opts.stats),
+      });
+    }
     return buildBackend({
       targetDir: paths.targetDir,
+      configPaths,
       skipBuildDependencies: Boolean(opts.skipBuildDependencies),
     });
   }
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/packager/createDistWorkspace.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/packager/createDistWorkspace.ts
index 2d2967fc44..601f442a73 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/packager/createDistWorkspace.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/packager/createDistWorkspace.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ type Options = {
    */
   targetDir?: string;
 
+  /**
+   * Configuration files to load during packaging.
+   */
+  configPaths?: string[];
+
   /**
    * Files to copy into the target workspace.
    *
@@ -127,13 +132,18 @@ export async function createDistWorkspace(
 
   if (options.buildDependencies) {
     const exclude = options.buildExcludes ?? [];
+    const configPaths = options.configPaths ?? [];
 
     const toBuild = new Set(
       targets.map(_ => _.name).filter(name => !exclude.includes(name)),
     );
 
     const standardBuilds = new Array<BuildOptions>();
-    const customBuild = new Array<{ dir: string; name: string }>();
+    const customBuild = new Array<{
+      dir: string;
+      name: string;
+      args?: string[];
+    }>();
 
     for (const pkg of packages) {
       if (!toBuild.has(pkg.packageJson.name)) {
@@ -166,7 +176,10 @@ export async function createDistWorkspace(
         console.warn(
           `Building ${pkg.packageJson.name} separately because it is a bundled package`,
         );
-        customBuild.push({ dir: pkg.dir, name: pkg.packageJson.name });
+        const args = buildScript.includes('--config')
+          ? []
+          : configPaths.map(p => ['--config', p]).flat();
+        customBuild.push({ dir: pkg.dir, name: pkg.packageJson.name, args });
         continue;
       }
 
@@ -193,8 +206,8 @@ export async function createDistWorkspace(
     if (customBuild.length > 0) {
       await runParallelWorkers({
         items: customBuild,
-        worker: async ({ name, dir }) => {
-          await run('yarn', ['run', 'build'], {
+        worker: async ({ name, dir, args }) => {
+          await run('yarn', ['run', 'build', ...(args || [])], {
             cwd: dir,
             stdoutLogFunc: prefixLogFunc(`${name}: `, 'stdout'),
             stderrLogFunc: prefixLogFunc(`${name}: `, 'stderr'),