diff --git a/src/sna/sna_display.c b/src/sna/sna_display.c
index ad5b5cd3..31d1ceb6 100644
--- a/src/sna/sna_display.c
+++ b/src/sna/sna_display.c
@@ -2455,18 +2455,28 @@ sna_output_get_property(xf86OutputPtr output, Atom property)
 	int err;
 
 	if (property == backlight_atom || property == backlight_deprecated_atom) {
+		int old_backlight;
 		INT32 val;
 
-		if (! sna_output->backlight_iface)
+		if (!sna_output->backlight_iface)
 			return FALSE;
 
 		val = sna_output_backlight_get(output);
 		if (val < 0)
 			return FALSE;
 
+		/* Preserve our value of the current user backlight level so that we
+		 * avoid mixing in automatic resetting of the backlight across DPMS
+		 * events. The property query should ideally always be idempotent.
+		 */
+		old_backlight = sna_output->backlight_active_level;
+
 		err = RRChangeOutputProperty(output->randr_output, property,
 					     XA_INTEGER, 32, PropModeReplace, 1, &val,
 					     FALSE, TRUE);
+
+		sna_output->backlight_active_level = old_backlight;
+
 		if (err != 0) {
 			xf86DrvMsg(output->scrn->scrnIndex, X_ERROR,
 				   "RRChangeOutputProperty error, %d\n", err);