diff --git a/style/base.css b/style/base.css
index b3c192fc..7134da09 100644
--- a/style/base.css
+++ b/style/base.css
@@ -364,13 +364,40 @@
 
 .chat-mode-select {
   height: 24px;
-  background-color: initial;
+
+  /* The footer's own background, so the select blends in as it did when this
+     was transparent; an explicit color (rather than transparent) is what
+     keeps the native popup from falling back to the light palette. */
+  background-color: var(--jp-cell-editor-background, var(--jp-layout-color1));
   color: var(--jp-ui-font-color1);
   padding: 0 5px;
   border-color: var(--jp-border-color0);
   outline: none;
 }
 
+/* The native option list is drawn from the option's own colors, not the
+   select's, in some browsers (Firefox) and falls back to the light UI palette
+   otherwise. Without these, light theme text lands on a light popup in a dark
+   theme and the choices are unreadable. The fallbacks keep a theme that leaves
+   a variable out from bringing that back. */
+
+/* The chat mode popup matches the select it belongs to, so the closed and open
+   states are the same tone. */
+.chat-mode-select option {
+  background-color: var(
+    --jp-cell-editor-background,
+    var(--jp-layout-color1, Canvas)
+  );
+  color: var(--jp-ui-font-color0, CanvasText);
+}
+
+.nbi-form-field select option,
+.config-dialog-body select option,
+.nbi-perf-control select option {
+  background-color: var(--jp-layout-color2, var(--jp-layout-color1, Canvas));
+  color: var(--jp-ui-font-color0, CanvasText);
+}
+
 .permission-mode-container {
   position: relative;
   display: flex;
diff --git a/tests/ts/select-theme-css.test.ts b/tests/ts/select-theme-css.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bef627b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ts/select-theme-css.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+// Copyright (c) Mehmet Bektas <mbektasgh@outlook.com>
+
+// The chat mode dropdown reset its background to `initial` while keeping a
+// theme-derived text color, so in a dark JupyterLab theme the native option
+// list rendered light text on a light popup. jsdom cannot render a native
+// popup, so pin the stylesheet declarations that prevent it.
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as path from 'path';
+
+const css = fs
+  .readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'style', 'base.css'), 'utf8')
+  .replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '');
+
+function declarations(selector: string): string {
+  const rules = css
+    .split('}')
+    .map(chunk => chunk.split('{'))
+    .filter(
+      ([sel, body]) =>
+        body !== undefined &&
+        sel
+          .split(',')
+          .map(part => part.trim())
+          .includes(selector)
+    );
+  return rules.map(([, body]) => body).join('\n');
+}
+
+// What the chat mode select sits on, so it looks as it did when transparent.
+const FOOTER_BACKGROUND = /var\(\s*--jp-cell-editor-background/;
+
+describe('select colors follow the JupyterLab theme', () => {
+  it('gives the chat mode select the footer background, not transparent', () => {
+    const body = declarations('.chat-mode-select');
+    expect(body).toMatch(
+      new RegExp(`background-color:\\s*${FOOTER_BACKGROUND.source}`)
+    );
+    expect(body).not.toMatch(/background-color:\s*initial/);
+  });
+
+  it('matches the chat mode popup to the select it belongs to, with fallbacks', () => {
+    const body = declarations('.chat-mode-select option');
+    expect(body).toMatch(
+      /background-color:\s*var\(\s*--jp-cell-editor-background,\s*var\(\s*--jp-layout-color1,\s*Canvas\s*\)\s*\)/
+    );
+    expect(body).toMatch(
+      /\bcolor:\s*var\(\s*--jp-ui-font-color0,\s*CanvasText\s*\)/
+    );
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    '.nbi-form-field select option',
+    '.config-dialog-body select option',
+    '.nbi-perf-control select option'
+  ])('themes the option list for %s, with fallbacks', selector => {
+    const body = declarations(selector);
+    // A theme that omits --jp-layout-color2 must not leave the option
+    // transparent, which is the original bug.
+    expect(body).toMatch(
+      /background-color:\s*var\(\s*--jp-layout-color2,\s*var\(\s*--jp-layout-color1,\s*Canvas\s*\)\s*\)/
+    );
+    expect(body).toMatch(
+      /\bcolor:\s*var\(\s*--jp-ui-font-color0,\s*CanvasText\s*\)/
+    );
+  });
+});