Browser autofill not working on dynamically appended DOM element

Browser autofill not working on dynamically appended DOM element

I am using  jquery modal plugin to raise modal forms on a page. If I make the modal form visible on page load (as a test, and not yet raised by the plugin), the browser's autofill functionality works fine in the input fields. But, when I raise the modal form using jquerymodal (it detaches then appends the modal element to the body) the autofill no longer works. Any idea as to why?

I thought it might have to do with the fact that the form code is inside <form> tags on the page, but when the jquery modal plugin operates on the element, it appends it outside those tags.  I thought this might cause issues with the browser understanding that they are input fields.  But, removing the form tags entirely made no difference.  I can't even get autocomplete to work on this element when it is raised as a modal window.

Any help would be appreciated!