diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/Popover/Contents.tsx b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/Popover/Contents.tsx
index 52263878ca915..491ebdc5aad15 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/Popover/Contents.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/Popover/Contents.tsx
@@ -27,6 +27,30 @@ interface ContentsProps {
   selectedNodeServiceName: string;
 }
 
+// IE 11 does not handle flex properties as expected. With browser detection,
+// we can use regular div elements to render contents that are almost identical.
+//
+// This method of detecting IE is from a Stack Overflow answer:
+// https://stackoverflow.com/a/21825207
+//
+// @ts-ignore `documentMode` is not recognized as a valid property of `document`.
+const isIE11 = !!window.MSInputMethodContext && !!document.documentMode;
+
+const FlexColumnGroup = (props: {
+  children: React.ReactNode;
+  style: React.CSSProperties;
+  direction: 'column';
+  gutterSize: 's';
+}) => {
+  if (isIE11) {
+    const { direction, gutterSize, ...rest } = props;
+    return <div {...rest} />;
+  }
+  return <EuiFlexGroup {...props} />;
+};
+const FlexColumnItem = (props: { children: React.ReactNode }) =>
+  isIE11 ? <div {...props} /> : <EuiFlexItem {...props} />;
+
 export function Contents({
   selectedNodeData,
   isService,
@@ -36,18 +60,18 @@ export function Contents({
 }: ContentsProps) {
   const frameworkName = selectedNodeData[SERVICE_FRAMEWORK_NAME];
   return (
-    <EuiFlexGroup
+    <FlexColumnGroup
       direction="column"
       gutterSize="s"
       style={{ minWidth: popoverMinWidth }}
     >
-      <EuiFlexItem>
+      <FlexColumnItem>
         <EuiTitle size="xxs">
           <h3>{label}</h3>
         </EuiTitle>
         <EuiHorizontalRule margin="xs" />
-      </EuiFlexItem>
-      <EuiFlexItem>
+      </FlexColumnItem>
+      <FlexColumnItem>
         {isService ? (
           <ServiceMetricFetcher
             frameworkName={frameworkName}
@@ -56,13 +80,13 @@ export function Contents({
         ) : (
           <Info {...selectedNodeData} />
         )}
-      </EuiFlexItem>
+      </FlexColumnItem>
       {isService && (
         <Buttons
           onFocusClick={onFocusClick}
           selectedNodeServiceName={selectedNodeServiceName}
         />
       )}
-    </EuiFlexGroup>
+    </FlexColumnGroup>
   );
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/cytoscapeOptions.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/cytoscapeOptions.ts
index 92f66f698f044..bf0e052b951ae 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/cytoscapeOptions.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/ServiceMap/cytoscapeOptions.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,17 @@ import {
 } from '../../../../../../../plugins/apm/common/elasticsearch_fieldnames';
 import { defaultIcon, iconForNode } from './icons';
 
+// IE 11 does not properly load some SVGs or draw certain shapes. This causes
+// a runtime error and the map fails work at all. We would prefer to do some
+// kind of feature detection rather than browser detection, but some of these
+// limitations are not well documented for older browsers.
+//
+// This method of detecting IE is from a Stack Overflow answer:
+// https://stackoverflow.com/a/21825207
+//
+// @ts-ignore `documentMode` is not recognized as a valid property of `document`.
+const isIE11 = !!window.MSInputMethodContext && !!document.documentMode;
+
 export const animationOptions: cytoscape.AnimationOptions = {
   duration: parseInt(theme.euiAnimSpeedNormal, 10),
   // @ts-ignore The cubic-bezier options here are not recognized by the cytoscape types
@@ -37,8 +48,9 @@ const style: cytoscape.Stylesheet[] = [
       // used here.
       //
       // @ts-ignore
-      'background-image': (el: cytoscape.NodeSingular) =>
-        iconForNode(el) ?? defaultIcon,
+      'background-image': isIE11
+        ? undefined
+        : (el: cytoscape.NodeSingular) => iconForNode(el) ?? defaultIcon,
       'background-height': (el: cytoscape.NodeSingular) =>
         isService(el) ? '60%' : '40%',
       'background-width': (el: cytoscape.NodeSingular) =>
@@ -65,7 +77,7 @@ const style: cytoscape.Stylesheet[] = [
       'min-zoomed-font-size': parseInt(theme.euiSizeL, 10),
       'overlay-opacity': 0,
       shape: (el: cytoscape.NodeSingular) =>
-        isService(el) ? 'ellipse' : 'diamond',
+        isService(el) ? (isIE11 ? 'rectangle' : 'ellipse') : 'diamond',
       'text-background-color': theme.euiColorLightestShade,
       'text-background-opacity': 0,
       'text-background-padding': theme.paddingSizes.xs,
@@ -87,12 +99,12 @@ const style: cytoscape.Stylesheet[] = [
       'line-color': lineColor,
       'overlay-opacity': 0,
       'target-arrow-color': lineColor,
-      'target-arrow-shape': 'triangle',
+      'target-arrow-shape': isIE11 ? 'none' : 'triangle',
       // The DefinitelyTyped definitions don't specify this property since it's
       // fairly new.
       //
       // @ts-ignore
-      'target-distance-from-node': theme.paddingSizes.xs,
+      'target-distance-from-node': isIE11 ? undefined : theme.paddingSizes.xs,
       width: 1,
       'source-arrow-shape': 'none',
       'z-index': zIndexEdge
@@ -101,12 +113,16 @@ const style: cytoscape.Stylesheet[] = [
   {
     selector: 'edge[bidirectional]',
     style: {
-      'source-arrow-shape': 'triangle',
+      'source-arrow-shape': isIE11 ? 'none' : 'triangle',
       'source-arrow-color': lineColor,
-      'target-arrow-shape': 'triangle',
+      'target-arrow-shape': isIE11 ? 'none' : 'triangle',
       // @ts-ignore
-      'source-distance-from-node': parseInt(theme.paddingSizes.xs, 10),
-      'target-distance-from-node': parseInt(theme.paddingSizes.xs, 10)
+      'source-distance-from-node': isIE11
+        ? undefined
+        : parseInt(theme.paddingSizes.xs, 10),
+      'target-distance-from-node': isIE11
+        ? undefined
+        : parseInt(theme.paddingSizes.xs, 10)
     }
   },
   // @ts-ignore DefinitelyTyped says visibility is "none" but it's