diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 class InFlightDiagnostic;
 class Location;
 class MLIRContextImpl;
+class PassManager;
 class StorageUniquer;
 DialectRegistry &getGlobalDialectRegistry();
 
@@ -156,6 +157,12 @@
   /// instances. This should not be used directly.
   StorageUniquer &getAttributeUniquer();
 
+  /// These APIs are tracking whether the context will be used in a
+  /// multithreading environment: this has no effect other than enabling
+  /// assertions on some misuses of some APIs.
+  void enterMultiThreadedExecution();
+  void exitMultiThreadedExecution();
+
 private:
   const std::unique_ptr<MLIRContextImpl> impl;
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
@@ -264,6 +264,11 @@
   /// Enable support for multi-threading within MLIR.
   bool threadingIsEnabled = true;
 
+  /// Track if we are currently executing a threaded execution environment (like
+  /// the pass-manager): this is only a debugging feature to help reducing the
+  /// chances of data races one some context APIs.
+  std::atomic<int> multiThreadedExecutionContext{0};
+
   /// If the operation should be attached to diagnostics printed via the
   /// Operation::emit methods.
   bool printOpOnDiagnostic = true;
@@ -487,6 +492,15 @@
   if (!dialect) {
     LLVM_DEBUG(llvm::dbgs()
                << "Load new dialect in Context" << dialectNamespace);
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+    if (impl.multiThreadedExecutionContext != 0) {
+      llvm::errs() << "Loading a dialect (" << dialectNamespace
+                   << ") while in a multi-threaded execution context (maybe "
+                      "the PassManager): this can indicate a "
+                      "missing `dependentDialects` in a pass for example.";
+      abort();
+    }
+#endif
     dialect = ctor();
     assert(dialect && "dialect ctor failed");
     return dialect.get();
@@ -527,6 +541,13 @@
   impl->typeUniquer.disableMultithreading(disable);
 }
 
+void MLIRContext::enterMultiThreadedExecution() {
+  ++impl->multiThreadedExecutionContext;
+}
+void MLIRContext::exitMultiThreadedExecution() {
+  --impl->multiThreadedExecutionContext;
+}
+
 /// Return true if we should attach the operation to diagnostics emitted via
 /// Operation::emit.
 bool MLIRContext::shouldPrintOpOnDiagnostic() {
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Pass/Pass.cpp b/mlir/lib/Pass/Pass.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Pass/Pass.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Pass/Pass.cpp
@@ -751,12 +751,18 @@
   // Construct an analysis manager for the pipeline.
   ModuleAnalysisManager am(module, instrumentor.get());
 
+  // Notify the context that we start running a pipeline for book keeping.
+  module.getContext()->enterMultiThreadedExecution();
+
   // If reproducer generation is enabled, run the pass manager with crash
   // handling enabled.
   LogicalResult result = crashReproducerFileName
                              ? runWithCrashRecovery(module, am)
                              : OpPassManager::run(module, am);
 
+  // Notify the context that the run is done.
+  module.getContext()->exitMultiThreadedExecution();
+
   // Dump all of the pass statistics if necessary.
   if (passStatisticsMode)
     dumpStatistics();
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Transforms/TestConvertCallOp.cpp b/mlir/test/lib/Transforms/TestConvertCallOp.cpp
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Transforms/TestConvertCallOp.cpp
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Transforms/TestConvertCallOp.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@
 class TestConvertCallOp
     : public PassWrapper<TestConvertCallOp, OperationPass<ModuleOp>> {
 public:
+  void getDependentDialects(DialectRegistry &registry) const final {
+    registry.insert<LLVM::LLVMDialect>();
+  }
+
   void runOnOperation() override {
     ModuleOp m = getOperation();