diff --git a/azure-quantum/azure/quantum/qiskit/backends/backend.py b/azure-quantum/azure/quantum/qiskit/backends/backend.py
index 0ca46fc0..5ea2adcf 100644
--- a/azure-quantum/azure/quantum/qiskit/backends/backend.py
+++ b/azure-quantum/azure/quantum/qiskit/backends/backend.py
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ def __getattr__(self, name: str) -> Any:
         try:
             return self.__dict__[name]
         except KeyError as exc:
-            if name in self.metadata:
+            if "metadata" in self.__dict__ and name in self.metadata:
                 return self.metadata[name]
             raise AttributeError(
                 f"'{type(self).__name__}' object has no attribute '{name}'"