Not too many teams go to the Etihad and try to dictate play from the get-go, but that’s the approach Dortmund took, and one which almost proved their undoing.
For all their attacking endeavour, City caught the German side going the other way and forced Gregor Kobel into action when Phil Foden stung his palms with a 25-yard drive and Savinho blazed the rebound over.
Foden tried his luck from the same distance 10 minutes later, and this time it was a much different outcome, as he was found in a dangerous pocket of space by Tijjani Reijnders before confidently sweeping an effort into the bottom corner.
It wouldn’t be a City game at present without Erling Haaland getting on the scoresheet, and his customary goal duly arrived just before the half-hour mark.
Jeremy Doku was the architect, recycling Savinho’s initial cross and finding the unmarked Haaland, who almost took the back of the net off from 10 yards.
Dortmund’s attacking offerings were few and far between in the first half, but they did at least test Gianluigi Donnarumma before the break when Karim Adeyemi stepped in off the right and made the Italian work for the first time of the evening.
On Bonfire night in the UK, it was Foden bringing the fireworks to the Etihad, adding his second goal of the evening in almost carbon copy fashion to the first, as he curled home from 20 yards into the same bottom left corner he found in the first half.
City were toying with Dortmund at times in the second half and could very easily have added a fourth moments later when Foden stood up a cross to the back post, which Savinho powered over on the volley.
Dortmund did manage to make things a little more interesting in the closing stages when a quick free-kick culminated with Julian Ryerson teeing up Waldemar Anton to sweep home at the near post.
A last-ditch John Stones block denied Adeyemi from moving Dortmund to within a goal of City as the hosts started to look a little jittery.
Pep Guardiola turned to his bench to help see the game out, and one of his substitutes, Rayan Cherki, added a fourth in stoppage time to round off a victory which stretched their unbeaten run in UCL home group/league phase fixtures to 23 games.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Phil Foden (Manchester City)