diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DebugBundle.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DebugBundle.php
index fdd7724dfc..3aa536dba7 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DebugBundle.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DebugBundle.php
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ namespace Symfony\Bundle\DebugBundle;
 use Symfony\Bundle\DebugBundle\DependencyInjection\Compiler\DumpDataCollectorPass;
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Bundle\Bundle;
-use Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Dumper\CliDumper;
 use Symfony\Component\VarDumper\VarDumper;
 
 /**
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ class DebugBundle extends Bundle
             // configuration for CLI mode is overridden in HTTP mode on
             // 'kernel.request' event
             VarDumper::setHandler(function ($var) use ($container) {
-                $dumper = new CliDumper();
+                $dumper = $container->get('var_dumper.cli_dumper');
                 $cloner = $container->get('var_dumper.cloner');
                 $handler = function ($var) use ($dumper, $cloner) {
                     $dumper->dump($cloner->cloneVar($var));
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
index 52cdfa94fe..5761e62a72 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ class Configuration implements ConfigurationInterface
                     ->min(-1)
                     ->defaultValue(-1)
                 ->end()
+                ->scalarNode('dump_destination')
+                    ->info('A stream URL where dumps should be written to')
+                    ->example('php://stderr')
+                    ->defaultNull()
+                ->end()
             ->end()
         ;
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/DebugExtension.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/DebugExtension.php
index d5c4fd93d1..4e5351c0e0 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/DebugExtension.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/DependencyInjection/DebugExtension.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ namespace Symfony\Bundle\DebugBundle\DependencyInjection;
 use Symfony\Component\Config\FileLocator;
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
 use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\XmlFileLoader;
+use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Reference;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\DependencyInjection\Extension;
 
 /**
@@ -37,6 +38,15 @@ class DebugExtension extends Extension
         $container->getDefinition('var_dumper.cloner')
             ->addMethodCall('setMaxItems',  array($config['max_items']))
             ->addMethodCall('setMaxString', array($config['max_string_length']));
+
+        if (null !== $config['dump_destination']) {
+            $container->getDefinition('var_dumper.cli_dumper')
+                ->replaceArgument(0, $config['dump_destination'])
+            ;
+            $container->getDefinition('data_collector.dump')
+                ->replaceArgument(4, new Reference('var_dumper.cli_dumper'))
+            ;
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/Resources/config/services.xml b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/Resources/config/services.xml
index 7de182861b..16e27a22c5 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/Resources/config/services.xml
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/DebugBundle/Resources/config/services.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
             <argument>null</argument><!-- %templating.helper.code.file_link_format% -->
             <argument>%kernel.charset%</argument>
             <argument type="service" id="request_stack" />
+            <argument>null</argument><!-- var_dumper.cli_dumper when debug.dump_destination is set -->
         </service>
 
         <service id="debug.dump_listener" class="Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\EventListener\DumpListener">
@@ -25,6 +26,10 @@
         </service>
 
         <service id="var_dumper.cloner" class="Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Cloner\VarCloner" />
+        <service id="var_dumper.cli_dumper" class="Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Dumper\CliDumper">
+            <argument>null</argument><!-- debug.dump_destination -->
+            <argument>%kernel.charset%</argument>
+        </service>
     </services>
 
 </container>
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/DataCollector/DumpDataCollector.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/DataCollector/DumpDataCollector.php
index 74faed19ee..32b99e562c 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/DataCollector/DumpDataCollector.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/DataCollector/DumpDataCollector.php
@@ -35,13 +35,16 @@ class DumpDataCollector extends DataCollector implements DataDumperInterface
     private $rootRefs;
     private $charset;
     private $dumper;
+    private $dumperIsInjected;
 
-    public function __construct(Stopwatch $stopwatch = null, $fileLinkFormat = null, $charset = null, RequestStack $requestStack = null)
+    public function __construct(Stopwatch $stopwatch = null, $fileLinkFormat = null, $charset = null, RequestStack $requestStack = null, DataDumperInterface $dumper = null)
     {
         $this->stopwatch = $stopwatch;
         $this->fileLinkFormat = $fileLinkFormat ?: ini_get('xdebug.file_link_format') ?: get_cfg_var('xdebug.file_link_format');
         $this->charset = $charset ?: ini_get('php.output_encoding') ?: ini_get('default_charset') ?: 'UTF-8';
         $this->requestStack = $requestStack;
+        $this->dumper = $dumper;
+        $this->dumperIsInjected = null !== $dumper;
 
         // All clones share these properties by reference:
         $this->rootRefs = array(
@@ -170,7 +173,9 @@ class DumpDataCollector extends DataCollector implements DataDumperInterface
         $this->data = array();
         $this->dataCount = 0;
         $this->isCollected = true;
-        $this->dumper = null;
+        if (!$this->dumperIsInjected) {
+            $this->dumper = null;
+        }
 
         return $ser;
     }