diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index e2325c91fd4..10f825ebdf0 100755
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -270,7 +270,12 @@ static void main_nix_build(int argc, char * * argv)
 
     if (packages) {
         std::ostringstream joined;
-        joined << "{...}@args: with import <nixpkgs> args; (pkgs.runCommandCC or pkgs.runCommand) \"shell\" { buildInputs = [ ";
+        joined << "{...}@args: "
+               << "let nixpkgs = import <nixpkgs>; "
+               << "nixpkgsArgs = builtins.intersectAttrs (builtins.functionArgs nixpkgs) args; "
+               << "in "
+               << "with nixpkgs nixpkgsArgs; "
+               << "(pkgs.runCommandCC or pkgs.runCommand) \"shell\" { buildInputs = [ ";
         for (const auto & i : left)
             joined << '(' << i << ") ";
         joined << "]; } \"\"";
diff --git a/tests/nix-shell.sh b/tests/nix-shell.sh
index 3241d7a0f72..d6457479bbf 100644
--- a/tests/nix-shell.sh
+++ b/tests/nix-shell.sh
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ output=$(NIX_PATH=nixpkgs="$shellDotNix" nix-shell --pure -p foo bar --run 'echo
 output=$(NIX_PATH=nixpkgs="$shellDotNix" nix-shell --pure -p foo --argstr fooContents baz --run 'echo "$(foo)"')
 [ "$output" = "baz" ]
 
+# Test nix-shell -p with older versions of Nixpkgs that do not expect
+# the (new) isNixShell attribute.
+output=$(NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=shell-empty-attrs-args.nix nix-shell --pure -p foo --run 'echo "$(foo)"')
+[ "$output" = "zes" ]
+
 # Test nix-shell shebang mode
 sed -e "s|@ENV_PROG@|$(type -P env)|" shell.shebang.sh > $TEST_ROOT/shell.shebang.sh
 chmod a+rx $TEST_ROOT/shell.shebang.sh
diff --git a/tests/shell-empty-attrs-args.nix b/tests/shell-empty-attrs-args.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..061589af18c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/shell-empty-attrs-args.nix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{ }: import ./shell.nix { fooContents = "zes"; }