diff --git a/cmd/pbm-agent/agent.go b/cmd/pbm-agent/agent.go
index bbddc64f8..4cfed0747 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm-agent/agent.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm-agent/agent.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ type Agent struct {
 
 	brief topo.NodeBrief
 
-	dumpConns int
+	numParallelColls int
 
 	closeCMD chan struct{}
 	pauseHB  int32
@@ -44,7 +44,12 @@ type Agent struct {
 	monStopSig chan struct{}
 }
 
-func newAgent(ctx context.Context, leadConn connect.Client, uri string, dumpConns int) (*Agent, error) {
+func newAgent(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	leadConn connect.Client,
+	uri string,
+	numParallelColls int,
+) (*Agent, error) {
 	nodeConn, err := connect.MongoConnect(ctx, uri, connect.Direct(true))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -72,7 +77,7 @@ func newAgent(ctx context.Context, leadConn connect.Client, uri string, dumpConn
 			ConfigSvr: info.IsConfigSrv(),
 			Version:   mongoVersion,
 		},
-		dumpConns: dumpConns,
+		numParallelColls: numParallelColls,
 	}
 	return a, nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/pbm-agent/backup.go b/cmd/pbm-agent/backup.go
index e685ad466..9b384e7a3 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm-agent/backup.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm-agent/backup.go
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func (a *Agent) Backup(ctx context.Context, cmd *ctrl.BackupCmd, opid ctrl.OPID,
 	case defs.LogicalBackup:
 		fallthrough
 	default:
-		bcp = backup.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, a.dumpConns)
+		bcp = backup.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, a.numParallelColls)
 	}
 
 	bcp.SetConfig(cfg)
diff --git a/cmd/pbm-agent/main.go b/cmd/pbm-agent/main.go
index 648060098..34239775f 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm-agent/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm-agent/main.go
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ func main() {
 			Envar("PBM_MONGODB_URI").
 			Required().
 			String()
-		dumpConns = pbmAgentCmd.Flag("dump-parallel-collections", "Number of collections to dump in parallel").
+		dumpConns = pbmAgentCmd.
+				Flag("dump-parallel-collections", "Number of collections to dump in parallel").
 				Envar("PBM_DUMP_PARALLEL_COLLECTIONS").
 				Default(strconv.Itoa(runtime.NumCPU() / 2)).
 				Int()
diff --git a/cmd/pbm-agent/oplog.go b/cmd/pbm-agent/oplog.go
index cb1bb1d03..69641d442 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm-agent/oplog.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm-agent/oplog.go
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@ func (a *Agent) OplogReplay(ctx context.Context, r *ctrl.ReplayCmd, opID ctrl.OP
 	}()
 
 	l.Info("oplog replay started")
-	if err := restore.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, r.RSMap).ReplayOplog(ctx, r, opID, l); err != nil {
+	rr := restore.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, r.RSMap, 0)
+	err = rr.ReplayOplog(ctx, r, opID, l)
+	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, restore.ErrNoDataForShard) {
 			l.Info("no oplog for the shard, skipping")
 		} else {
diff --git a/cmd/pbm-agent/restore.go b/cmd/pbm-agent/restore.go
index 872681265..1d76153a0 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm-agent/restore.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm-agent/restore.go
@@ -113,10 +113,17 @@ func (a *Agent) Restore(ctx context.Context, r *ctrl.RestoreCmd, opid ctrl.OPID,
 			l.Info("This node is not the primary. Check pbm agent on the primary for restore progress")
 			return
 		}
+
+		var numParallelColls int
+		if r.NumParallelColls != nil && *r.NumParallelColls > 0 {
+			numParallelColls = int(*r.NumParallelColls)
+		}
+
+		rr := restore.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, r.RSMap, numParallelColls)
 		if r.OplogTS.IsZero() {
-			err = restore.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, r.RSMap).Snapshot(ctx, r, opid, bcp)
+			err = rr.Snapshot(ctx, r, opid, bcp)
 		} else {
-			err = restore.New(a.leadConn, a.nodeConn, a.brief, r.RSMap).PITR(ctx, r, opid, bcp)
+			err = rr.PITR(ctx, r, opid, bcp)
 		}
 	case defs.PhysicalBackup, defs.IncrementalBackup, defs.ExternalBackup:
 		if lck != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/pbm/backup.go b/cmd/pbm/backup.go
index 714f7f78e..814fa83ab 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm/backup.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm/backup.go
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ type backupOpts struct {
 	wait             bool
 	waitTime         time.Duration
 	externList       bool
+
+	numParallelColls int32
 }
 
 type backupOut struct {
@@ -87,6 +89,10 @@ func runBackup(
 	b *backupOpts,
 	outf outFormat,
 ) (fmt.Stringer, error) {
+	numParallelColls, err := parseCLINumParallelCollsOption(b.numParallelColls)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "parse --num-parallel-collections option")
+	}
 	nss, err := parseCLINSOption(b.ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "parse --ns option")
@@ -136,6 +142,7 @@ func runBackup(
 			Namespaces:       nss,
 			Compression:      compression,
 			CompressionLevel: level,
+			NumParallelColls: numParallelColls,
 			Filelist:         b.externList,
 			Profile:          b.profile,
 		},
@@ -662,3 +669,14 @@ func (incompatibleMongodVersionError) Is(err error) bool {
 func (e incompatibleMongodVersionError) Unwrap() error {
 	return errIncompatible
 }
+
+func parseCLINumParallelCollsOption(value int32) (*int32, error) {
+	if value < 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("value cannot be negative")
+	}
+	if value == 0 {
+		return nil, nil //nolint:nilnil
+	}
+
+	return &value, nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/pbm/main.go b/cmd/pbm/main.go
index c7819eafa..ceec59a2e 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm/main.go
@@ -196,6 +196,8 @@ func main() {
 	backupCmd.Flag("profile", "Config profile name").StringVar(&backupOptions.profile)
 	backupCmd.Flag("compression-level", "Compression level (specific to the compression type)").
 		IntsVar(&backupOptions.compressionLevel)
+	backupCmd.Flag("num-parallel-collections", "Number of parallel collections").
+		Int32Var(&backupOptions.numParallelColls)
 	backupCmd.Flag("ns", `Namespaces to backup (e.g. "db.*", "db.collection"). If not set, backup all ("*.*")`).
 		StringVar(&backupOptions.ns)
 	backupCmd.Flag("wait", "Wait for the backup to finish").
@@ -239,6 +241,8 @@ func main() {
 	restoreCmd.Flag("base-snapshot",
 		"Override setting: Name of older snapshot that PITR will be based on during restore.").
 		StringVar(&restore.pitrBase)
+	restoreCmd.Flag("num-parallel-collections", "Number of parallel collections").
+		Int32Var(&restore.numParallelColls)
 	restoreCmd.Flag("ns", `Namespaces to restore (e.g. "db1.*,db2.collection2"). If not set, restore all ("*.*")`).
 		StringVar(&restore.ns)
 	restoreCmd.Flag("with-users-and-roles", "Includes users and roles for selected database (--ns flag)").
diff --git a/cmd/pbm/restore.go b/cmd/pbm/restore.go
index 3adc1b05d..9c8030f7d 100644
--- a/cmd/pbm/restore.go
+++ b/cmd/pbm/restore.go
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ type restoreOpts struct {
 	rsMap         string
 	conf          string
 	ts            string
+
+	numParallelColls int32
 }
 
 type restoreRet struct {
@@ -105,6 +107,10 @@ func runRestore(
 	o *restoreOpts,
 	outf outFormat,
 ) (fmt.Stringer, error) {
+	numParallelColls, err := parseCLINumParallelCollsOption(o.numParallelColls)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "parse --num-parallel-collections option")
+	}
 	nss, err := parseCLINSOption(o.ns)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "parse --ns option")
@@ -132,7 +138,7 @@ func runRestore(
 	}
 	tdiff := time.Now().Unix() - int64(clusterTime.T)
 
-	m, err := doRestore(ctx, conn, o, nss, rsMap, outf)
+	m, err := doRestore(ctx, conn, o, numParallelColls, nss, rsMap, outf)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -321,6 +327,7 @@ func doRestore(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	conn connect.Client,
 	o *restoreOpts,
+	numParallelColls *int32,
 	nss []string,
 	rsMapping map[string]string,
 	outf outFormat,
@@ -335,12 +342,13 @@ func doRestore(
 	cmd := ctrl.Cmd{
 		Cmd: ctrl.CmdRestore,
 		Restore: &ctrl.RestoreCmd{
-			Name:          name,
-			BackupName:    bcp,
-			Namespaces:    nss,
-			UsersAndRoles: o.usersAndRoles,
-			RSMap:         rsMapping,
-			External:      o.extern,
+			Name:             name,
+			BackupName:       bcp,
+			NumParallelColls: numParallelColls,
+			Namespaces:       nss,
+			UsersAndRoles:    o.usersAndRoles,
+			RSMap:            rsMapping,
+			External:         o.extern,
 		},
 	}
 	if o.pitr != "" {
diff --git a/pbm/archive/archive.go b/pbm/archive/archive.go
index 3556e34d1..5fa7fdcec 100644
--- a/pbm/archive/archive.go
+++ b/pbm/archive/archive.go
@@ -82,12 +82,18 @@ func Decompose(r io.Reader, newWriter NewWriter, nsFilter NSFilterFn, docFilter
 	return errors.Wrap(err, "metadata")
 }
 
-func Compose(w io.Writer, nsFilter NSFilterFn, newReader NewReader) error {
+func Compose(w io.Writer, newReader NewReader, nsFilter NSFilterFn, concurrency int) error {
 	meta, err := readMetadata(newReader)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "metadata")
 	}
 
+	if concurrency > 0 {
+		// mongorestore uses this field as a number of
+		// concurrent collections to restore at a moment
+		meta.Header.ConcurrentCollections = int32(concurrency)
+	}
+
 	nss := make([]*Namespace, 0, len(meta.Namespaces))
 	for _, ns := range meta.Namespaces {
 		if nsFilter(NSify(ns.Database, ns.Collection)) {
diff --git a/pbm/backup/backup.go b/pbm/backup/backup.go
index e366a34ec..8f20a5970 100644
--- a/pbm/backup/backup.go
+++ b/pbm/backup/backup.go
@@ -32,17 +32,17 @@ type Backup struct {
 	typ                 defs.BackupType
 	incrBase            bool
 	timeouts            *config.BackupTimeouts
-	dumpConns           int
+	numParallelColls    int
 	oplogSlicerInterval time.Duration
 }
 
 func New(leadConn connect.Client, conn *mongo.Client, brief topo.NodeBrief, dumpConns int) *Backup {
 	return &Backup{
-		leadConn:  leadConn,
-		nodeConn:  conn,
-		brief:     brief,
-		typ:       defs.LogicalBackup,
-		dumpConns: dumpConns,
+		leadConn:         leadConn,
+		nodeConn:         conn,
+		brief:            brief,
+		typ:              defs.LogicalBackup,
+		numParallelColls: dumpConns,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pbm/backup/logical.go b/pbm/backup/logical.go
index ab0cb512f..aad0ff1ce 100644
--- a/pbm/backup/logical.go
+++ b/pbm/backup/logical.go
@@ -135,7 +135,17 @@ func (b *Backup) doLogical(
 	if len(nssSize) == 0 {
 		dump = snapshot.DummyBackup{}
 	} else {
-		dump, err = snapshot.NewBackup(b.brief.URI, b.dumpConns, db, coll)
+		numParallelColls := b.numParallelColls
+		if bcp.NumParallelColls != nil {
+			if *bcp.NumParallelColls > 0 {
+				numParallelColls = int(*bcp.NumParallelColls)
+			} else {
+				l.Warning("invalid value of NumParallelCollections (%v). fallback to %v",
+					numParallelColls, b.numParallelColls)
+			}
+		}
+
+		dump, err = snapshot.NewBackup(b.brief.URI, numParallelColls, db, coll)
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "init mongodump options")
 		}
diff --git a/pbm/ctrl/cmd.go b/pbm/ctrl/cmd.go
index 23542ed0e..d43e7f51f 100644
--- a/pbm/ctrl/cmd.go
+++ b/pbm/ctrl/cmd.go
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ type BackupCmd struct {
 	Namespaces       []string                 `bson:"nss,omitempty"`
 	Compression      compress.CompressionType `bson:"compression"`
 	CompressionLevel *int                     `bson:"level,omitempty"`
+	NumParallelColls *int32                   `bson:"numParallelColls,omitempty"`
 	Filelist         bool                     `bson:"filelist,omitempty"`
 	Profile          string                   `bson:"profile,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -154,6 +155,8 @@ type RestoreCmd struct {
 	UsersAndRoles bool              `bson:"usersAndRoles,omitempty"`
 	RSMap         map[string]string `bson:"rsMap,omitempty"`
 
+	NumParallelColls *int32 `bson:"numParallelColls,omitempty"`
+
 	OplogTS primitive.Timestamp `bson:"oplogTS,omitempty"`
 
 	External bool                `bson:"external"`
diff --git a/pbm/restore/logical.go b/pbm/restore/logical.go
index f46b89ea2..db9c6ea35 100644
--- a/pbm/restore/logical.go
+++ b/pbm/restore/logical.go
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ type Restore struct {
 	nodeInfo *topo.NodeInfo
 	bcpStg   storage.Storage
 	oplogStg storage.Storage
+
+	numParallelColls int
 	// Shards to participate in restore. Num of shards in bcp could
 	// be less than in the cluster and this is ok. Only these shards
 	// would be expected to run restore (distributed transactions sync,
@@ -76,7 +78,13 @@ type oplogRange struct {
 type restoreUsersAndRolesOption bool
 
 // New creates a new restore object
-func New(leadConn connect.Client, nodeConn *mongo.Client, brief topo.NodeBrief, rsMap map[string]string) *Restore {
+func New(
+	leadConn connect.Client,
+	nodeConn *mongo.Client,
+	brief topo.NodeBrief,
+	rsMap map[string]string,
+	numParallelColls int,
+) *Restore {
 	if rsMap == nil {
 		rsMap = make(map[string]string)
 	}
@@ -87,6 +95,8 @@ func New(leadConn connect.Client, nodeConn *mongo.Client, brief topo.NodeBrief,
 		brief:    brief,
 		rsMap:    rsMap,
 
+		numParallelColls: numParallelColls,
+
 		indexCatalog: idx.NewIndexCatalog(),
 	}
 }
@@ -805,7 +815,8 @@ func (r *Restore) RunSnapshot(
 				return rdr, nil
 			},
 			bcp.Compression,
-			util.MakeSelectedPred(nss))
+			util.MakeSelectedPred(nss),
+			r.numParallelColls)
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/pbm/snapshot/backup.go b/pbm/snapshot/backup.go
index b0cd2cd7e..fc816da39 100644
--- a/pbm/snapshot/backup.go
+++ b/pbm/snapshot/backup.go
@@ -20,11 +20,7 @@ type backuper struct {
 	pm *progress.BarWriter
 }
 
-func NewBackup(curi string, conns int, d, c string) (*backuper, error) {
-	if conns <= 0 {
-		conns = 1
-	}
-
+func NewBackup(curi string, maxParallelColls int, d, c string) (*backuper, error) {
 	var err error
 
 	opts := options.New("pbm-agent:dump", version.Current().Version, "", "", false,
@@ -49,6 +45,10 @@ func NewBackup(curi string, conns int, d, c string) (*backuper, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if maxParallelColls < 1 {
+		maxParallelColls = 1
+	}
+
 	backup := &backuper{}
 
 	backup.pm = progress.NewBarWriter(&progressWriter{}, time.Second*60, 24, false)
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func NewBackup(curi string, conns int, d, c string) (*backuper, error) {
 			// instead of creating a file. This is not clear at plain sight,
 			// you nee to look the code to discover it.
 			Archive:                "-",
-			NumParallelCollections: conns,
+			NumParallelCollections: maxParallelColls,
 		},
 		InputOptions:      &mongodump.InputOptions{},
 		SessionProvider:   &db.SessionProvider{},
diff --git a/pbm/snapshot/dump.go b/pbm/snapshot/dump.go
index 3abdeaf31..0cc3ecedc 100644
--- a/pbm/snapshot/dump.go
+++ b/pbm/snapshot/dump.go
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ func DownloadDump(
 	download DownloadFunc,
 	compression compress.CompressionType,
 	match archive.NSFilterFn,
+	numParallelColls int,
 ) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 	pr, pw := io.Pipe()
 
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ func DownloadDump(
 			return r, errors.Wrapf(err, "create decompressor: %q", ns)
 		}
 
-		err := archive.Compose(pw, match, newReader)
+		err := archive.Compose(pw, newReader, match, numParallelColls)
 		pw.CloseWithError(errors.Wrap(err, "compose"))
 	}()
 
diff --git a/pbm/snapshot/restore.go b/pbm/snapshot/restore.go
index b4f56c589..cdccfc26a 100644
--- a/pbm/snapshot/restore.go
+++ b/pbm/snapshot/restore.go
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ func NewRestore(uri string, cfg *config.Config) (io.ReaderFrom, error) {
 		BypassDocumentValidation: true,
 		Drop:                     true,
 		NumInsertionWorkers:      numInsertionWorkers,
-		NumParallelCollections:   1,
 		PreserveUUID:             preserveUUID,
 		StopOnError:              true,
 		WriteConcern:             "majority",