diff --git a/nova/conductor/manager.py b/nova/conductor/manager.py
index 3b1ba23d0510..9ce2ee13508d 100644
--- a/nova/conductor/manager.py
+++ b/nova/conductor/manager.py
@@ -918,11 +918,10 @@ class ComputeTaskManager(base.Base):
             notifications.send_update_with_states(context, instance, None,
                     vm_states.BUILDING, None, None, service="conductor")
 
-            objects.InstanceAction.action_start(
-                context, instance.uuid, instance_actions.CREATE,
-                want_result=False)
-
             with obj_target_cell(instance, cell):
+                objects.InstanceAction.action_start(
+                    context, instance.uuid, instance_actions.CREATE,
+                    want_result=False)
                 instance_bdms = self._create_block_device_mapping(
                     instance.flavor, instance.uuid, block_device_mapping)
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py b/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
index 1a4e3258167a..1384ae8dbf6d 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/conductor/test_conductor.py
@@ -1459,6 +1459,19 @@ class ConductorTaskTestCase(_BaseTaskTestCase, test_compute.BaseTestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(1, ephemeral[0].volume_size)
 
+        cells = objects.CellMappingList.get_all(self.context)
+
+        # NOTE(danms): Assert that we created the InstanceAction in the
+        # correct cell
+        for cell in cells:
+            with context.target_cell(self.context, cell):
+                actions = objects.InstanceActionList.get_by_instance_uuid(
+                    self.context, instance_uuid)
+                if cell.name == 'cell1':
+                    self.assertEqual(1, len(actions))
+                else:
+                    self.assertEqual(0, len(actions))
+
     @mock.patch('nova.compute.rpcapi.ComputeAPI.build_and_run_instance')
     @mock.patch('nova.scheduler.rpcapi.SchedulerAPI.select_destinations')
     @mock.patch('nova.objects.HostMapping.get_by_host')