A pair of famous faces popped up on Sunday night’s season 4 premiere of “The Gilded Age.”

Donning a top hat and a mustache, Cambridge native Matt Damon joined comedian David Letterman and his bushy beard for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the latest episode of HBO’s hit period drama. Approximately eight minutes and 30 seconds into the premiere, the duo can be seen briefly walking in front of the lavish Russell home in New York City, looking dapper in their period-appropriate attire.

And despite bringing a bit of star power to “The Gilded Age,” Damon and Letterman do not have any lines during their appearance on the show, nor do their names show up in the episode’s credits. That’s because they were tapped as background actors for the premiere.

In an interview with Vulture, Isabel Richardson, showrunner of Netflix’s “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman,” revealed that the former late-night host and comic has long dreamed of doing a fun appearance as a background actor, inspired by Gary Mule Deer’s cameo in “Annie Hall.” Having tried to pull off a similar stunt with past guests of his Netflix show, the stars finally aligned after booking Damon for the upcoming seventh season.

Richardson told Vulture that the idea to have Letterman and Damon cameo together came about as they were researching the Oscar-winning Bay State native and found out about his history of background work early in his career. Richardson is a fan of “The Gilded Age,” and she and her team reached out to the HBO show about having Letterman and Damon appear, according to Vulture. The plan came to fruition earlier this year, with filming taking place at the show’s back lot on Long Island.

Damon has become a bit of a cameo king over the years. The actor has made memorable surprise appearances in a variety of projects, including Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” superhero flicks like “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Deadpool 2,” and even comedies like “Eurotrip,” where he played a rocker who gave us the unforgettable earworm “Scotty Doesn’t Know.”

Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.