diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index c29f87b43624..35cfc7b8d4d8 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
   NG_VERSION.cdn = versionInfo.cdnVersion;
   var dist = 'angular-'+ NG_VERSION.full;
 
+  if (versionInfo.cdnVersion == null) {
+    throw new Error('Unable to read CDN version, are you offline or has the CDN not been properly pushed?');
+  }
+
   //config
   grunt.initConfig({
     NG_VERSION: NG_VERSION,
diff --git a/docs/app/e2e/app.scenario.js b/docs/app/e2e/app.scenario.js
index f25d5d8233a5..7dfe4b15434c 100644
--- a/docs/app/e2e/app.scenario.js
+++ b/docs/app/e2e/app.scenario.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ describe('docs.angularjs.org', function () {
 
 
     it('should change the page content when clicking a link to a service', function () {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html');
 
       var ngBindLink = element(by.css('.definition-table td a[href="api/ng/directive/ngClick"]'));
       ngBindLink.click();
@@ -51,33 +51,33 @@ describe('docs.angularjs.org', function () {
 
 
     it('should be resilient to trailing slashes', function() {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/');
       var pageBody = element(by.css('h1'));
       expect(pageBody.getText()).toEqual('angular.noop');
     });
 
 
     it('should be resilient to trailing "index"', function() {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/index');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/index');
       var pageBody = element(by.css('h1'));
       expect(pageBody.getText()).toEqual('angular.noop');
     });
 
 
     it('should be resilient to trailing "index/"', function() {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/index/');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html#!/api/ng/function/angular.noop/index/');
       var pageBody = element(by.css('h1'));
       expect(pageBody.getText()).toEqual('angular.noop');
     });
 
 
     it('should display formatted error messages on error doc pages', function() {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html#!error/ng/areq?p0=Missing&p1=not%20a%20function,%20got%20undefined');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html#!error/ng/areq?p0=Missing&p1=not%20a%20function,%20got%20undefined');
       expect(element(by.css('.minerr-errmsg')).getText()).toEqual("Argument 'Missing' is not a function, got undefined");
     });
 
     it("should display an error if the page does not exist", function() {
-      browser.get('build/docs/index.html#!/api/does/not/exist');
+      browser.get('build/docs/index-production.html#!/api/does/not/exist');
       expect(element(by.css('h1')).getText()).toBe('Oops!');
     });
 
diff --git a/lib/versions/version-info.js b/lib/versions/version-info.js
index cf3f000cbd58..73df518a8740 100644
--- a/lib/versions/version-info.js
+++ b/lib/versions/version-info.js
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ var shell = require('shelljs');
 var semver = require('semver');
 var _ = require('lodash');
 
+var process = require('process');
+// We are only interested in whether this environment variable exists, hence the !!
+var NO_REMOTE_REQUESTS = !!process.env['NG1_BUILD_NO_REMOTE_VERSION_REQUESTS'];
+
 var currentPackage, previousVersions, cdnVersion, gitRepoInfo;
 
 
@@ -96,12 +100,12 @@ var getTaggedVersion = function() {
  * @return {Array.<SemVer>} The collection of previous versions
  */
 var getPreviousVersions =  function() {
-  // always use the remote tags as the local clone might
+  // If we are allowing remote requests then use the remote tags as the local clone might
   // not contain all commits when cloned with git clone --depth=...
-  // Needed e.g. for Travis
+  // Otherwise just use the tags in the local repository
   var repo_url = currentPackage.repository.url;
-  var tagResults = shell.exec('git ls-remote --tags ' + repo_url,
-                              {silent: true});
+  var query = NO_REMOTE_REQUESTS ? 'git tag' : 'git ls-remote --tags ' + repo_url;
+  var tagResults = shell.exec(query, {silent: true});
   if (tagResults.code === 0) {
     return _(tagResults.output.match(/v[0-9].*[0-9]$/mg))
       .map(function(tag) {
@@ -138,15 +142,20 @@ var getCdnVersion = function() {
     .reverse()
     .reduce(function(cdnVersion, version) {
       if (!cdnVersion) {
-        // Note: need to use shell.exec and curl here
-        // as version-infos returns its result synchronously...
-        var cdnResult = shell.exec('curl http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/' + version + '/angular.min.js ' +
-                  '--head --write-out "%{http_code}" -o /dev/null -silent',
-                                    {silent: true});
-        if (cdnResult.code === 0) {
-          var statusCode = cdnResult.output.trim();
-          if (statusCode === '200') {
-            cdnVersion = version;
+        if (NO_REMOTE_REQUESTS) {
+          // We do not want to make any remote calls to the CDN so just use the most recent version
+          cdnVersion = version;
+        } else {
+          // Note: need to use shell.exec and curl here
+          // as version-infos returns its result synchronously...
+          var cdnResult = shell.exec('curl http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/' + version + '/angular.min.js ' +
+                    '--head --write-out "%{http_code}" -o /dev/null -silent',
+                                      {silent: true});
+          if (cdnResult.code === 0) {
+            var statusCode = cdnResult.output.trim();
+            if (statusCode === '200') {
+              cdnVersion = version;
+            }
           }
         }
       }
@@ -204,3 +213,13 @@ exports.gitRepoInfo = gitRepoInfo = getGitRepoInfo();
 exports.previousVersions = previousVersions = getPreviousVersions();
 exports.cdnVersion = cdnVersion = getCdnVersion();
 exports.currentVersion = getTaggedVersion() || getSnapshotVersion();
+
+if (NO_REMOTE_REQUESTS) {
+  console.log('==============================================================================================');
+  console.log('Running with no remote requests for version data:');
+  console.log(' - this is due to the "NG1_BUILD_NO_REMOTE_VERSION_REQUESTS" environment variable being defined.');
+  console.log(' - be aware that the generated docs may not have valid or the most recent version information.');
+  console.log('==============================================================================================');
+}
+console.log('CDN version:', cdnVersion.raw);
+console.log('Current version:', exports.currentVersion.raw);
\ No newline at end of file