diff --git a/internal/beatcmd/init.go b/internal/beatcmd/init.go
index 5afa7b2d5c6..cb7a339311d 100644
--- a/internal/beatcmd/init.go
+++ b/internal/beatcmd/init.go
@@ -52,11 +52,5 @@ func initRand() {
 }
 
 func initFlags() {
-	// For backwards compatibility, initialize and convert known -flags to --flags.
 	cfgfile.Initialize()
-	cfgfile.AddAllowedBackwardsCompatibleFlag("v")
-	cfgfile.AddAllowedBackwardsCompatibleFlag("e")
-	cfgfile.AddAllowedBackwardsCompatibleFlag("d")
-	cfgfile.AddAllowedBackwardsCompatibleFlag("environment")
-	cfgfile.ConvertFlagsForBackwardsCompatibility()
 }
diff --git a/packaging/ironbank/Dockerfile b/packaging/ironbank/Dockerfile
index 0e4e8fbf4f5..fda358a5439 100644
--- a/packaging/ironbank/Dockerfile
+++ b/packaging/ironbank/Dockerfile
@@ -73,6 +73,6 @@ USER ${ELASTIC_PRODUCT}
 EXPOSE 8200
 # TODO: eventually /tinit will be replaced by /usr/bin/tini
 ENTRYPOINT ["/tinit", "--", "/usr/share/apm-server/apm-server"]
-CMD ["-environment", "container"]
+CMD ["--environment", "container"]
 
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=1m --retries=5 CMD (curl -I -f --max-time 5 https://127.0.0.1:8200 || curl -I -f --max-time 5 http://127.0.0.1:8200 || exit 1)
diff --git a/systemtest/cmdflags_test.go b/systemtest/cmdflags_test.go
index a8b416e8f5a..3d9e289a627 100644
--- a/systemtest/cmdflags_test.go
+++ b/systemtest/cmdflags_test.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestAPMServerEnvironment(t *testing.T) {
-	// Check that apm-server starts up cleanly with the "-environment" flag.
+	// Check that apm-server starts up cleanly with the "--environment" flag.
 	for _, env := range []string{
 		"container",
 		"systemd",
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestAPMServerEnvironment(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(env, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 			// NewServer adds a cleanup to close the server.
-			apmservertest.NewServerTB(t, "-environment", env)
+			apmservertest.NewServerTB(t, "--environment", env)
 		})
 	}
 }