diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b1aa40f9d868..4b61a9c453da 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ release: clean-release ## Builds and push container images using the latest git
 	@if ! [ -z "$$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then echo "Your local git repository contains uncommitted changes, use git clean before proceeding."; exit 1; fi
 	git checkout "${RELEASE_TAG}"
 	# Build binaries first.
-	$(MAKE) release-binaries
+	GIT_VERSION=$(RELEASE_TAG) $(MAKE) release-binaries
 	# Set the manifest image to the production bucket.
 	$(MAKE) manifest-modification REGISTRY=$(PROD_REGISTRY)
 	## Build the manifests
diff --git a/hack/version.sh b/hack/version.sh
index 7450f45294c9..7f22394af69b 100755
--- a/hack/version.sh
+++ b/hack/version.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ version::get_version_vars() {
 
     # stolen from k8s.io/hack/lib/version.sh
     # Use git describe to find the version based on annotated tags.
-    if GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --abbrev=14 --match "v[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null); then
+    if [[ -n ${GIT_VERSION-} ]] || GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --abbrev=14 --match "v[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null); then
         # This translates the "git describe" to an actual semver.org
         # compatible semantic version that looks something like this:
         #   v1.1.0-alpha.0.6+84c76d1142ea4d