diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index dc2b62565aa1..4db6e1ba54e3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -844,8 +844,6 @@ int cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __used)
 	struct perf_record *rec = &record;
 	char errbuf[BUFSIZ];
 
-	perf_header__set_cmdline(argc, argv);
-
 	evsel_list = perf_evlist__new(NULL, NULL);
 	if (evsel_list == NULL)
 		return -ENOMEM;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/header.c b/tools/perf/util/header.c
index 3a6d20443330..74ea3c2f8138 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/header.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/header.c
@@ -174,6 +174,15 @@ perf_header__set_cmdline(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
 	int i;
 
+	/*
+	 * If header_argv has already been set, do not override it.
+	 * This allows a command to set the cmdline, parse args and
+	 * then call another builtin function that implements a
+	 * command -- e.g, cmd_kvm calling cmd_record.
+	 */
+	if (header_argv)
+		return 0;
+
 	header_argc = (u32)argc;
 
 	/* do not include NULL termination */
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/parse-options.c b/tools/perf/util/parse-options.c
index 99d02aa57dbf..594f8fad5ecd 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/parse-options.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/parse-options.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "util.h"
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "cache.h"
+#include "header.h"
 
 #define OPT_SHORT 1
 #define OPT_UNSET 2
@@ -413,6 +414,8 @@ int parse_options(int argc, const char **argv, const struct option *options,
 {
 	struct parse_opt_ctx_t ctx;
 
+	perf_header__set_cmdline(argc, argv);
+
 	parse_options_start(&ctx, argc, argv, flags);
 	switch (parse_options_step(&ctx, options, usagestr)) {
 	case PARSE_OPT_HELP: