diff --git a/runtime/lua/vim/_core/defaults.lua b/runtime/lua/vim/_core/defaults.lua
index 61cd412890..3979c10c0d 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/vim/_core/defaults.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/vim/_core/defaults.lua
@@ -814,13 +814,25 @@ do
       -- an OSC 11 response from the terminal emulator. If the user has set
       -- 'background' explicitly then we will delete this autocommand,
       -- effectively disabling automatic background setting.
-      local force = false
+      local did_dsr_response = false
       local id = vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('TermResponse', {
         group = group,
         nested = true,
         desc = "Update the value of 'background' automatically based on the terminal emulator's background color",
         callback = function(args)
           local resp = args.data.sequence ---@type string
+
+          -- DSR response that should come after the OSC 11 response if the
+          -- terminal supports it.
+          if string.match(resp, '^\027%[0n$') then
+            did_dsr_response = true
+            -- Don't delete the autocmd because the bg response may come
+            -- after the DSR response if the terminal handles requests out
+            -- of sequence. In that case, the background will simply be set
+            -- later in the startup sequence.
+            return false
+          end
+
           local r, g, b = parseosc11(resp)
           if r and g and b then
             local rr = parsecolor(r)
@@ -830,15 +842,20 @@ do
             if rr and gg and bb then
               local luminance = (0.299 * rr) + (0.587 * gg) + (0.114 * bb)
               local bg = luminance < 0.5 and 'dark' or 'light'
-              setoption('background', bg, force)
+              vim.api.nvim_set_option_value('background', bg, {})
 
-              -- On the first query response, don't force setting the option in
-              -- case the user has already set it manually. If they have, then
-              -- this autocommand will be deleted. If they haven't, then we do
-              -- want to force setting the option to override the value set by
-              -- this autocommand.
-              if not force then
-                force = true
+              -- Ensure OptionSet still triggers when we set the background during startup
+              if vim.v.vim_did_enter == 0 then
+                vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('VimEnter', {
+                  group = group,
+                  once = true,
+                  nested = true,
+                  callback = function()
+                    vim.api.nvim_exec_autocmds('OptionSet', {
+                      pattern = 'background',
+                    })
+                  end,
+                })
               end
             end
           end
@@ -850,13 +867,37 @@ do
         nested = true,
         once = true,
         callback = function()
-          if vim.api.nvim_get_option_info2('background', {}).was_set then
+          local optinfo = vim.api.nvim_get_option_info2('background', {})
+          local sid_lua = -8
+          if
+            optinfo.was_set
+            and optinfo.last_set_sid ~= sid_lua
+            and next(vim.api.nvim_get_autocmds({ id = id })) ~= nil
+          then
             vim.api.nvim_del_autocmd(id)
           end
         end,
       })
 
-      vim.api.nvim_ui_send('\027]11;?\007')
+      -- Send OSC 11 query along with DSR sequence to determine whether
+      -- terminal supports the query. If the DSR response comes first,
+      -- the terminal most likely doesn't support the bg color query,
+      -- and we don't have to keep waiting for a bg color response.
+      -- #32109
+      local osc11 = '\027]11;?\007'
+      local dsr = '\027[5n'
+      vim.api.nvim_ui_send(osc11 .. dsr)
+
+      -- Wait until detection of OSC 11 capabilities is complete to
+      -- ensure background is automatically set before user config.
+      if not vim.wait(100, function()
+        return did_dsr_response
+      end, 1) then
+        vim.notify(
+          'defaults.lua: Did not detect DSR response from terminal. This results in a slower startup time.',
+          vim.log.levels.WARN
+        )
+      end
     end
 
     --- If the TUI (term_has_truecolor) was able to determine that the host
diff --git a/src/nvim/tui/input.c b/src/nvim/tui/input.c
index 5aefab81b8..121bcb3a79 100644
--- a/src/nvim/tui/input.c
+++ b/src/nvim/tui/input.c
@@ -726,7 +726,31 @@ static void handle_unknown_csi(TermInput *input, const TermKeyKey *key)
     break;
   case 'n':
     // Device Status Report (DSR)
-    if (nparams == 2) {
+    if (nparams == 1) {
+      // ECMA-48 DSR
+      // https://ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-48_5th_edition_june_1991.pdf
+      int arg;
+      if (termkey_interpret_csi_param(params[0], &arg, NULL, NULL) != TERMKEY_RES_KEY) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      MAXSIZE_TEMP_ARRAY(args, 2);
+      ADD_C(args, STATIC_CSTR_AS_OBJ("termresponse"));
+
+      StringBuilder response = KV_INITIAL_VALUE;
+      kv_printf(response, "\x1b[%dn", arg);
+      ADD_C(args, STRING_OBJ(cbuf_as_string(response.items, response.size)));
+
+      rpc_send_event(ui_client_channel_id, "nvim_ui_term_event", args);
+      kv_destroy(response);
+    } else if (nparams == 2) {
+      // Hard to find comprehensive docs on these responses. Some can be found at https://www.xfree86.org/current/ctlseqs.html
+      // under "Device Status Report (DSR, DEC-specific)"
+      // - Report Printer status
+      // - Report User Defined Key status
+      // - Report Locator status
+      // When the first parameter is 997, it's a theme update response based on
+      // contour terminal VT extensions, as described below.
       int args[2];
       for (size_t i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(args); i++) {
         if (termkey_interpret_csi_param(params[i], &args[i], NULL, NULL) != TERMKEY_RES_KEY) {
diff --git a/src/nvim/tui/tui.c b/src/nvim/tui/tui.c
index 50ebc71597..6dda0cdfcf 100644
--- a/src/nvim/tui/tui.c
+++ b/src/nvim/tui/tui.c
@@ -337,13 +337,14 @@ static void tui_reset_key_encoding(TUIData *tui)
   }
 }
 
-/// Write the OSC 11 sequence to the terminal emulator to query the current background color.
+/// Write the OSC 11 + DSR sequence to the terminal emulator to query the current
+/// background color.
 ///
 /// Response will be handled by the TermResponse handler in _core/defaults.lua.
 void tui_query_bg_color(TUIData *tui)
   FUNC_ATTR_NONNULL_ALL
 {
-  out(tui, S_LEN("\x1b]11;?\x07"));
+  out(tui, S_LEN("\x1b]11;?\x07\x1b[5n"));
   flush_buf(tui);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/functional/terminal/tui_spec.lua b/test/functional/terminal/tui_spec.lua
index 5c5d4d316a..80e8f33b01 100644
--- a/test/functional/terminal/tui_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/terminal/tui_spec.lua
@@ -2891,10 +2891,15 @@ describe('TUI', function()
   for _, guicolors in ipairs({ 'notermguicolors', 'termguicolors' }) do
     it('has no black flicker when clearing regions during startup with ' .. guicolors, function()
       local screen = Screen.new(50, 10)
+      -- Colorscheme is automatically detected as light in _core/defaults.lua, so fg
+      -- should be dark except on Windows, where it doesn't respond to the OSC11 query,
+      -- so bg is dark.
+      local fg = is_os('win') and Screen.colors.NvimLightGrey2 or Screen.colors.NvimDarkGrey2
+      local bg = is_os('win') and Screen.colors.NvimDarkGrey2 or Screen.colors.NvimLightGrey2
       screen:add_extra_attr_ids({
         [100] = {
-          foreground = Screen.colors.NvimLightGrey2,
-          background = Screen.colors.NvimDarkGrey2,
+          foreground = fg,
+          background = bg,
         },
       })
       fn.jobstart({
@@ -2908,6 +2913,7 @@ describe('TUI', function()
         'sleep 10',
       }, {
         term = true,
+        env = { VIMRUNTIME = os.getenv('VIMRUNTIME') },
       })
       if guicolors == 'termguicolors' then
         screen:expect([[