diff --git a/polkadot/.gitlab-ci.yml b/polkadot/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 398a77baef5867f3a8a2e1c0c59fe945184f303e..ce1fc364b368208fb85ec78a3e26491c24638149 100644
--- a/polkadot/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/polkadot/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -164,7 +164,11 @@ publish-docker-release:
     - echo "Polkadot version = ${VERSION}"
     - test -z "${VERSION}" && exit 1
     - cd ./artifacts
-    - docker build --tag $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$VERSION --tag $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$EXTRATAG .
+    - docker build
+      --build-arg VCS_REF="${CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA}"
+      --build-arg BUILD_DATE="$(date -u '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')"
+      --tag $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$VERSION 
+      --tag $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$EXTRATAG .
     - docker push $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$VERSION
     - docker push $CONTAINER_IMAGE:$EXTRATAG
   after_script:
diff --git a/polkadot/scripts/docker/Dockerfile b/polkadot/scripts/docker/Dockerfile
index 8d4e21788f46f8ebdb831607976786c016cee065..4b48815b65abc3a1f329936c859d742c8596f291 100644
--- a/polkadot/scripts/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/polkadot/scripts/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,26 +1,42 @@
-FROM ubuntu:xenial
-LABEL maintainer "devops-team@parity.io"
-LABEL description="Paritytech Polkadot Node Implementation"
+FROM debian:stretch-slim
+
+# metadata
+ARG VCS_REF
+ARG BUILD_DATE
+
+LABEL io.parity.image.authors="devops-team@parity.io" \
+	io.parity.image.vendor="Parity Technologies" \
+	io.parity.image.title="parity/polkadot" \
+	io.parity.image.description="polkadot: a platform for web3" \
+	io.parity.image.source="https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/blob/master/scripts/docker/Dockerfile" \
+	io.parity.image.revision="${VCS_REF}" \
+	io.parity.image.created="${BUILD_DATE}" \
+	io.parity.image.documentation="https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/"
+
+# show backtraces
+ENV RUST_BACKTRACE 1
 
+# install tools and dependencies
 RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get upgrade -y && \
-    DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y \
-        libssl1.0.0 \
-        ca-certificates \
-        curl && \
-    apt-get autoremove -y && \
-    apt-get clean
-    
-RUN find /var/lib/apt/lists/ -type f -not -name lock -delete
-
+	DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get upgrade -y && \
+	DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y \
+		libssl1.1 \
+		ca-certificates \
+		curl && \
+# apt cleanup
+	apt-get autoremove -y && \
+	apt-get clean && \
+	find /var/lib/apt/lists/ -type f -not -name lock -delete; \
+# add user
+	useradd -m -u 1000 -U -s /bin/sh -d /polkadot polkadot
+
+# add polkadot binary to docker image
 COPY ./polkadot /usr/local/bin
 
-
-
-RUN useradd -m -u 1000 -U -s /bin/sh -d /polkadot polkadot
 USER polkadot
 
-ENV RUST_BACKTRACE 1
+# check if executable works in this container
+RUN /usr/local/bin/polkadot --version
 
 EXPOSE 30333 9933 9944
 VOLUME ["/polkadot"]