diff --git a/lib/chai/utils/inspect.js b/lib/chai/utils/inspect.js
index e7ed13317..6f84680d6 100644
--- a/lib/chai/utils/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/chai/utils/inspect.js
@@ -27,24 +27,6 @@ function inspect(obj, showHidden, depth, colors) {
   return formatValue(ctx, obj, (typeof depth === 'undefined' ? 2 : depth));
 }
 
-// https://gist.github.com/1044128/
-var getOuterHTML = function(element) {
-  if ('outerHTML' in element) return element.outerHTML;
-  var ns = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";
-  var container = document.createElementNS(ns, '_');
-  var elemProto = (window.HTMLElement || window.Element).prototype;
-  var xmlSerializer = new XMLSerializer();
-  var html;
-  if (document.xmlVersion) {
-    return xmlSerializer.serializeToString(element);
-  } else {
-    container.appendChild(element.cloneNode(false));
-    html = container.innerHTML.replace('><', '>' + element.innerHTML + '<');
-    container.innerHTML = '';
-    return html;
-  }
-};
-
 // Returns true if object is a DOM element.
 var isDOMElement = function (object) {
   if (typeof HTMLElement === 'object') {
@@ -78,9 +60,37 @@ function formatValue(ctx, value, recurseTimes) {
     return primitive;
   }
 
-  // If it's DOM elem, get outer HTML.
+  // If this is a DOM element, try to get the outer HTML.
   if (isDOMElement(value)) {
-    return getOuterHTML(value);
+    if ('outerHTML' in value) {
+      return value.outerHTML;
+      // This value does not have an outerHTML attribute,
+      //   it could still be an XML element
+    } else {
+      // Attempt to serialize it
+      try {
+        if (document.xmlVersion) {
+          var xmlSerializer = new XMLSerializer();
+          return xmlSerializer.serializeToString(value);
+        } else {
+          // Firefox 11- do not support outerHTML
+          //   It does, however, support innerHTML
+          //   Use the following to render the element
+          var ns = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";
+          var container = document.createElementNS(ns, '_');
+
+          container.appendChild(value.cloneNode(false));
+          html = container.innerHTML
+            .replace('><', '>' + value.innerHTML + '<');
+          container.innerHTML = '';
+          return html;
+        }
+      } catch (err) {
+        // This could be a non-native DOM implementation,
+        //   continue with the normal flow:
+        //   printing the element as if it is an object.
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   // Look up the keys of the object.