diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index c1a0d06561..7e446d4a8e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,23 +2,29 @@
 # from the master branch of https://github.com/docker/docker.github.io
 #
 # Here is the sequence:
-# 1.  Set up the build
-# 2.  Fetch upstream resources
-# 3.  Build static HTML from master
-# 4.  Reset to clean tiny nginx image
-# 5.  Copy Nginx config and archive HTML, which don't change often and can be cached
-# 6.  Copy static HTML from previous build stage (step 3)
+# 1.  Set up base stages for building and deploying
+# 2.  Collect and build the archived documentation
+# 3.  Collect and build the reference documentation (from upstream resources)
+# 4.  Build static HTML from the current branch
+# 5.  Build the final image, combining the archives, reference docs, and
+#     current version of the documentation
 #
 # When the image is run, it starts Nginx and serves the docs at port 4000
 
+
 # Engine
 ARG ENGINE_BRANCH="18.09.x"
 
 # Distribution
 ARG DISTRIBUTION_BRANCH="release/2.6"
 
+
+###
+# Set up base stages for building and deploying
+###
+
 # Get basic configs and Jekyll env
-FROM docs/docker.github.io:docs-builder AS builder
+FROM docs/docker.github.io:docs-builder AS builderbase
 ENV TARGET=/usr/share/nginx/html
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app/md_source/
 
@@ -33,50 +39,55 @@ ARG DISTRIBUTION_BRANCH
 ENV DISTRIBUTION_BRANCH=${DISTRIBUTION_BRANCH}
 ENV DISTRIBUTION_SVN_BRANCH=branches/${DISTRIBUTION_BRANCH}
 
-# Get the current docs from the checked out branch
-COPY . .
-
-####### START UPSTREAM RESOURCES ########
-# Fetch upstream resources
-RUN bash ./_scripts/fetch-upstream-resources.sh .
-####### END UPSTREAM RESOURCES ########
-
-
-# Build the static HTML, now that everything is in place
-
-RUN jekyll build -d ${TARGET}
-
-# Fix up some links, don't touch the archives
-RUN find ${TARGET} -type f -name '*.html' | grep -vE "v[0-9]+\." | while read i; do sed -i 's#href="https://docs.docker.com/#href="/#g' "$i"; done
-
-# BUILD OF MASTER DOCS IS NOW DONE!
 
 # Reset to alpine so we don't get any docs source or extra apps
-FROM nginx:alpine
-
-# Set the target again
+FROM nginx:alpine AS deploybase
 ENV TARGET=/usr/share/nginx/html
 
 # Get the nginx config from the nginx-onbuild image
 # This hardly ever changes so should usually be cached
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:nginx-onbuild /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
 
-# Get all the archive static HTML and put it into place
-# Go oldest-to-newest to take advantage of the fact that we change older
-# archives less often than new ones.
-# To add a new archive, add it here
-# AND ALSO edit _data/docsarchives/archives.yaml to add it to the drop-down
+# Set the default command to serve the static HTML site
+CMD echo -e "Docker docs are viewable at:\nhttp://0.0.0.0:4000"; exec nginx -g 'daemon off;'
+
+
+# Build the archived docs
+# these docs barely change, so can be cached
+FROM deploybase AS archives
+# Get all the archive static HTML and put it into place. To add a new archive,
+# add it here, and ALSO edit _data/docsarchives/archives.yaml to add it to the drop-down
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:v17.03 ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:v17.06 ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:v17.09 ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:v17.12 ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 COPY --from=docs/docker.github.io:v18.03 ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 
-# Get the built docs output from the previous build stage
-# This ordering means all previous layers can come from cache unless an archive
-# changes
+# Fetch upstream resources (reference documentation)
+# Only add the files that are needed to build these reference docs, so that
+# these docs are only rebuilt if changes were made to the configuration.
+FROM builderbase AS upstream-resources
+COPY ./_scripts/fetch-upstream-resources.sh ./_scripts/
+COPY ./_config.yml .
+COPY ./_data/toc.yaml ./_data/
+RUN bash ./_scripts/fetch-upstream-resources.sh .
 
-COPY --from=builder ${TARGET} ${TARGET}
 
-# Serve the site (target), which is now all static HTML
-CMD echo -e "Docker docs are viewable at:\nhttp://0.0.0.0:4000"; exec nginx -g 'daemon off;'
+# Build the current docs from the checked out branch
+FROM builderbase AS current
+COPY . .
+COPY --from=upstream-resources /usr/src/app/md_source/. ./
+
+
+# Build the static HTML, now that everything is in place
+RUN jekyll build -d ${TARGET}
+
+# Fix up some links, don't touch the archives
+RUN find ${TARGET} -type f -name '*.html' | grep -vE "v[0-9]+\." | while read i; do sed -i 's#href="https://docs.docker.com/#href="/#g' "$i"; done
+
+
+# Docs with archives (for deploy)
+FROM archives AS deploy
+
+# Add the current version of the docs
+COPY --from=current ${TARGET} ${TARGET}