diff --git a/azure/defaults.go b/azure/defaults.go
index 29efbbad360..fb2d439e8c7 100644
--- a/azure/defaults.go
+++ b/azure/defaults.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package azure
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 
 	"github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest/azure"
 
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	infrav1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-azure/api/v1alpha4"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-azure/util/tele"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-azure/version"
 )
 
@@ -322,6 +324,10 @@ func UserAgent() string {
 // SetAutoRestClientDefaults set authorizer and user agent for autorest client.
 func SetAutoRestClientDefaults(c *autorest.Client, auth autorest.Authorizer) {
 	c.Authorizer = auth
+	// Wrap the original Sender on the autorest.Client c.
+	// The wrapped Sender should set the x-ms-correlation-request-id on the given
+	// request, then pass the new request to the underlying Sender.
+	c.Sender = autorest.DecorateSender(c.Sender, msCorrelationIDSendDecorator)
 	AutoRestClientAppendUserAgent(c, UserAgent())
 }
 
@@ -329,3 +335,14 @@ func SetAutoRestClientDefaults(c *autorest.Client, auth autorest.Authorizer) {
 func AutoRestClientAppendUserAgent(c *autorest.Client, extension string) {
 	_ = c.AddToUserAgent(extension) // intentionally ignore error as it doesn't matter
 }
+
+func msCorrelationIDSendDecorator(snd autorest.Sender) autorest.Sender {
+	return autorest.SenderFunc(func(r *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+		// if the correlation ID was found in the request context, set
+		// it in the header
+		if corrID, ok := tele.CorrIDFromCtx(r.Context()); ok {
+			r.Header.Set(string(tele.CorrIDKeyVal), string(corrID))
+		}
+		return snd.Do(r)
+	})
+}
diff --git a/azure/defaults_test.go b/azure/defaults_test.go
index c18f1335bee..f098fa3095c 100644
--- a/azure/defaults_test.go
+++ b/azure/defaults_test.go
@@ -17,11 +17,16 @@ limitations under the License.
 package azure
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-azure/util/tele"
 )
 
 func TestGetDefaultImageSKUID(t *testing.T) {
@@ -235,3 +240,51 @@ func TestGetDefaultUbuntuImage(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMSCorrelationIDSendDecorator(t *testing.T) {
+	g := NewWithT(t)
+	const corrID tele.CorrID = "TestMSCorrelationIDSendDecoratorCorrID"
+	ctx := context.WithValue(context.Background(), tele.CorrIDKeyVal, corrID)
+
+	// create a fake server so that the sender can send to
+	// somewhere
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	receivedReqs := []*http.Request{}
+	wg.Add(1)
+	originHandler := http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		receivedReqs = append(receivedReqs, r)
+		wg.Done()
+	})
+
+	testSrv := httptest.NewServer(originHandler)
+	defer testSrv.Close()
+
+	// create a sender that sends to the fake server, then
+	// decorate the sender with the msCorrelationIDSendDecorator
+	origSender := autorest.SenderFunc(func(r *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+		// preserve the incoming headers to the fake server, so that
+		// we can test that the fake server received the right
+		// correlation ID header.
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", testSrv.URL, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		req.Header = r.Header
+		return testSrv.Client().Do(req)
+	})
+	newSender := autorest.DecorateSender(origSender, msCorrelationIDSendDecorator)
+
+	// create a new HTTP request and send it via the new decorated sender
+	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "/abc", nil)
+	g.Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+
+	req = req.WithContext(ctx)
+	_, err = newSender.Do(req)
+	g.Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+	wg.Wait()
+	g.Expect(len(receivedReqs)).To(Equal(1))
+	receivedReq := receivedReqs[0]
+	g.Expect(
+		receivedReq.Header.Get(string(tele.CorrIDKeyVal)),
+	).To(Equal(string(corrID)))
+}
diff --git a/util/tele/corr_id.go b/util/tele/corr_id.go
index fa93ea4c5d2..b3254da7b06 100644
--- a/util/tele/corr_id.go
+++ b/util/tele/corr_id.go
@@ -22,7 +22,13 @@ import (
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
 )
 
-type corrIDKey string
+// CorrIDKey is the type of the key used to store correlation
+// IDs in context.Contexts.
+type CorrIDKey string
+
+// CorrIDKeyVal is the key used to store the correlation ID in
+// context.Contexts, HTTP headers, and other similar locations.
+const CorrIDKeyVal CorrIDKey = "x-ms-correlation-request-id"
 
 // CorrID is a correlation ID that the cluster API provider
 // sends with all API requests to Azure. Do not create one
@@ -30,8 +36,6 @@ type corrIDKey string
 // to create one of these within a context.Context.
 type CorrID string
 
-const corrIDKeyVal corrIDKey = "x-ms-correlation-id"
-
 // ctxWithCorrID creates a CorrID and creates a new context.Context
 // with the new CorrID in it. It returns the _new_ context and the
 // newly created CorrID. If there was a problem creating the correlation
@@ -41,11 +45,11 @@ const corrIDKeyVal corrIDKey = "x-ms-correlation-id"
 // below:
 //
 // 	ctx := context.Background()
-//	ctx, newCorrID := CtxWithCorrID(ctx)
+//	ctx, newCorrID := ctxWithCorrID(ctx)
 //	fmt.Println("new corr ID: ", newCorrID)
 //	doSomething(ctx)
 func ctxWithCorrID(ctx context.Context) (context.Context, CorrID) {
-	currentCorrIDIface := ctx.Value(corrIDKeyVal)
+	currentCorrIDIface := ctx.Value(CorrIDKeyVal)
 	if currentCorrIDIface != nil {
 		currentCorrID, ok := currentCorrIDIface.(CorrID)
 		if ok {
@@ -57,7 +61,7 @@ func ctxWithCorrID(ctx context.Context) (context.Context, CorrID) {
 		return nil, CorrID("")
 	}
 	newCorrID := CorrID(uid.String())
-	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, corrIDKeyVal, newCorrID)
+	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, CorrIDKeyVal, newCorrID)
 	return ctx, newCorrID
 }
 
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ func ctxWithCorrID(ctx context.Context) (context.Context, CorrID) {
 // context.Context. If none exists, returns an empty CorrID and false.
 // Otherwise returns the CorrID value and true.
 func CorrIDFromCtx(ctx context.Context) (CorrID, bool) {
-	currentCorrIDIface := ctx.Value(corrIDKeyVal)
+	currentCorrIDIface := ctx.Value(CorrIDKeyVal)
 	if currentCorrIDIface == nil {
 		return CorrID(""), false
 	}
diff --git a/util/tele/tele.go b/util/tele/tele.go
index 22b89e5ef5d..558ff0fb834 100644
--- a/util/tele/tele.go
+++ b/util/tele/tele.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 )
 
@@ -35,7 +36,15 @@ func (t tracer) Start(
 	op string,
 	opts ...trace.SpanStartOption,
 ) (context.Context, trace.Span) {
-	ctx, _ = ctxWithCorrID(ctx)
+	ctx, corrID := ctxWithCorrID(ctx)
+	opts = append(
+		opts,
+		trace.WithSpanKind(trace.SpanKindClient),
+		trace.WithAttributes(attribute.String(
+			string(CorrIDKeyVal),
+			string(corrID),
+		)),
+	)
 	return t.Tracer.Start(ctx, op, opts...)
 }