diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index fe9e8e28b..f1c857abe 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,26 +1,11 @@
-Release 3.5.3 (in development)
-==============================
-
-Dependencies
-------------
-
-Incompatible changes
---------------------
-
-Deprecated
-----------
+Release 3.5.3 (released Mar 20, 2021)
+=====================================
 
 Features added
 --------------
 
 * #8959: using UNIX path separator in image directive confuses Sphinx on Windows
 
-Bugs fixed
-----------
-
-Testing
---------
-
 Release 3.5.2 (released Mar 06, 2021)
 =====================================
 
diff --git a/sphinx/__init__.py b/sphinx/__init__.py
index 7f72a3d02..0a6e37dd0 100644
--- a/sphinx/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/__init__.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ if 'PYTHONWARNINGS' not in os.environ:
 warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', "'U' mode is deprecated",
                         DeprecationWarning, module='docutils.io')
 
-__version__ = '3.5.3+'
+__version__ = '3.5.3'
 __released__ = '3.5.3'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 
 #: Version info for better programmatic use.
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ __released__ = '3.5.3'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 #:
 #: .. versionadded:: 1.2
 #:    Before version 1.2, check the string ``sphinx.__version__``.
-version_info = (3, 5, 3, 'beta', 0)
+version_info = (3, 5, 3, 'final', 0)
 
 package_dir = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))