diff --git a/docs/ceilings.md b/docs/ceilings.md
index c0f17cfa..36fb788b 100644
--- a/docs/ceilings.md
+++ b/docs/ceilings.md
@@ -1033,7 +1033,9 @@ work when nobody knows it and that the call site never shows. The mechanism and
   none of 30 from 500 ms; Chrome for Testing 155 and Helium 0.19.2.1). The agent hears of a dialog the person
   answered, at most twenty between two page answers, but not of one the agent itself answered. A held page cannot lay
   out, so a pane opened or resized meanwhile shows it at the size it had, and lays it out at the pane's once the
-  dialog closes; a screenshot fails until then.
+  dialog closes; a screenshot fails until then. On Chrome 153 and older, which answers a screencast's start and
+  stop only once the dialog closes, a pane resized while one is open keeps its last frame until it is answered
+  (Chrome 151 on the macos-15-intel runner, measured; 154 on answers at once).
   A window opened with Open in a window was not tried with a dialog.
 
 ## Languages
diff --git a/internal/browser/chrome.go b/internal/browser/chrome.go
index 4218a613..e3cf7f53 100644
--- a/internal/browser/chrome.go
+++ b/internal/browser/chrome.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/chromedp/cdproto/browser"
@@ -87,6 +88,12 @@ type chromePage struct {
 	dl *downloads
 	// gate is held while the page has a JavaScript dialog open.
 	gate dialogGate
+	// castMu guards castLast, the last screencast start or stop queued, which
+	// the next one waits for: they can run on past their caller
+	// (castPastDialog). casting says one is running.
+	castMu   sync.Mutex
+	castLast chan struct{}
+	casting  bool
 }
 
 // downloadFolder is downloadDir, which the live tests point at a folder of
diff --git a/internal/browser/chrome_view.go b/internal/browser/chrome_view.go
index 486bd5e8..0bf914b4 100644
--- a/internal/browser/chrome_view.go
+++ b/internal/browser/chrome_view.go
@@ -190,22 +190,71 @@ func (p *chromePage) deliver(frame *page.EventScreencastFrame) {
 // Screencast starts the frames at v, or restarts them there: Chrome keeps
 // the size a screencast started with.
 func (p *chromePage) Screencast(ctx context.Context, v Viewport) error {
-	if err := p.runFree(ctx, page.StopScreencast()); err != nil {
-		return err
+	w, h := v.devicePixels()
+	return p.castPastDialog(func() error {
+		if err := p.stopCast(ctx); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := p.Resize(ctx, v); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		p.casting = true
+		return p.runFree(ctx, page.StartScreencast().
+			WithFormat(page.ScreencastFormatJpeg).
+			WithQuality(screencastQuality).
+			WithMaxWidth(w).
+			WithMaxHeight(h))
+	})
+}
+
+func (p *chromePage) StopScreencast(ctx context.Context) error {
+	return p.castPastDialog(func() error { return p.stopCast(ctx) })
+}
+
+// stopCast stops the frames. With none running it sends nothing, so a pane
+// opened on a held page starts its frames without a stop waiting first.
+func (p *chromePage) stopCast(ctx context.Context) error {
+	if !p.casting {
+		return nil
 	}
-	if err := p.Resize(ctx, v); err != nil {
+	if err := p.runFree(ctx, page.StopScreencast()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	w, h := v.devicePixels()
-	return p.runFree(ctx, page.StartScreencast().
-		WithFormat(page.ScreencastFormatJpeg).
-		WithQuality(screencastQuality).
-		WithMaxWidth(w).
-		WithMaxHeight(h))
+	p.casting = false
+	return nil
 }
 
-func (p *chromePage) StopScreencast(ctx context.Context) error {
-	return p.runFree(ctx, page.StopScreencast())
+// castPastDialog runs step, a start or stop of the screencast, after the ones
+// before it, and returns once it is done or the page holds a dialog. Chrome up
+// to 153 answers Page.startScreencast and Page.stopScreencast only once the
+// renderer has seen them, and a renderer holding a dialog sees nothing until
+// it closes, though the browser starts or stops the frames at once: a pane
+// opened on the dialog waited the whole pageWait and lost the browser (Chrome
+// 151, macos-15-intel runner, measured 2026-10-28). step runs on after that.
+func (p *chromePage) castPastDialog(step func() error) error {
+	p.castMu.Lock()
+	prev, mine := p.castLast, make(chan struct{})
+	p.castLast = mine
+	p.castMu.Unlock()
+	done := make(chan error, 1)
+	go func() {
+		defer close(mine)
+		if prev != nil {
+			<-prev
+		}
+		done <- step()
+	}()
+	select {
+	case err := <-done:
+		return err
+	case <-p.gate.held():
+		go func() {
+			if err := <-done; err != nil && p.Alive() {
+				slog.Warn("browser: start or stop the screencast under a dialog", "err", err)
+			}
+		}()
+		return nil
+	}
 }
 
 // Resize lays the page out at the pane's size, as a window of that size would.
diff --git a/internal/browser/dialogs_test.go b/internal/browser/dialogs_test.go
index 42912fff..b96c6082 100644
--- a/internal/browser/dialogs_test.go
+++ b/internal/browser/dialogs_test.go
@@ -214,3 +214,34 @@ func TestTheGateKeepsTheLastSizeAskedForWhileHeld(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a second close handed back %+v", v)
 	}
 }
+
+// A screencast step stands for Chrome 153 and older here, which answers it
+// only once the dialog closes.
+func TestAScreencastUnderADialogReturnsAndRunsInOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	var p chromePage
+	p.gate.open()
+	answered := make(chan struct{})
+	var order []int
+	first := func() error {
+		<-answered
+		order = append(order, 1)
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := p.castPastDialog(first); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ran := make(chan struct{})
+	second := func() error {
+		order = append(order, 2)
+		close(ran)
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := p.castPastDialog(second); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	close(answered)
+	<-ran
+	if len(order) != 2 || order[0] != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("steps ran as %v, want 1 then 2", order)
+	}
+}