diff --git a/widget/android/nsWindow.cpp b/widget/android/nsWindow.cpp
index a654c8e8486d..6dcb56067ca3 100644
--- a/widget/android/nsWindow.cpp
+++ b/widget/android/nsWindow.cpp
@@ -1265,6 +1265,9 @@ class LayerViewSupport final
   void SyncPauseCompositor() {
     MOZ_ASSERT(AndroidBridge::IsJavaUiThread());
 
+    // Set this true prior to attempting to pause the compositor, so that if
+    // pausing fails the subsequent recovery knows to initialize the compositor
+    // in a paused state.
     mCompositorPaused = true;
 
     if (mUiCompositorControllerChild) {
@@ -1299,8 +1302,12 @@ class LayerViewSupport final
   void SyncResumeCompositor() {
     MOZ_ASSERT(AndroidBridge::IsJavaUiThread());
 
+    // Set this false prior to attempting to resume the compositor, so that if
+    // resumption fails the subsequent recovery knows to initialize the
+    // compositor in a resumed state.
+    mCompositorPaused = false;
+
     if (mUiCompositorControllerChild) {
-      mCompositorPaused = false;
       bool resumed = mUiCompositorControllerChild->Resume();
       if (!resumed) {
         gfxCriticalNote
@@ -1316,6 +1323,11 @@ class LayerViewSupport final
       jni::Object::Param aSurfaceControl) {
     MOZ_ASSERT(AndroidBridge::IsJavaUiThread());
 
+    // Set this false prior to attempting to resume the compositor, so that if
+    // resumption fails the subsequent recovery knows to initialize the
+    // compositor in a resumed state.
+    mCompositorPaused = false;
+
     mX = aX;
     mY = aY;
     mWidth = aWidth;
@@ -1362,8 +1374,6 @@ class LayerViewSupport final
 
     mRequestedNewSurface = false;
 
-    mCompositorPaused = false;
-
     class OnResumedEvent : public nsAppShell::Event {
       GeckoSession::Compositor::GlobalRef mCompositor;