This is exactly what I do. It's especially great if your background is going to reappear in multiple panels. It may take a little time to set it up, but once it's done, you can change angles, camera lenses and lighting in a flash. Then you never have to worry about making mistakes or getting the angles or distances wrong.
If I'm working with buildings I almost always use the perspective rulers in CSP in conjunction with my 3d models. Lot's of people use Sketch-up, but personally, I prefer Poser. People say Daz3D is good too.
In my experience 3D programs aren't terribly easy to pick up, but after a little bit of playing around you should be able to get a decent background going.