diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index afa5cb6548..6562b0dc97 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1022,6 +1022,7 @@ $(MANUAL_BUILDDIR)/interop/qemu-ga.8: $(call manual-deps,interop)
 	$(call build-manual,interop,man)
 
 $(MANUAL_BUILDDIR)/index.html: $(SRC_PATH)/docs/index.html.in qemu-version.h
+	@mkdir -p "$(MANUAL_BUILDDIR)"
 	$(call quiet-command, sed "s|@@VERSION@@|${VERSION}|g" $< >$@, \
              "GEN","$@")