diff --git a/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js b/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
index cfbd94e..f974d87 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/base/js/utils.js
@@ -624,7 +624,8 @@ define([
         var info = (mode && mode.mode && mode.mime && mode) ||
             CodeMirror.findModeByName(modename) ||
             CodeMirror.findModeByExtension(modename.split(".").slice(-1)) ||
-            CodeMirror.findModeByMIME(modename);
+            CodeMirror.findModeByMIME(modename) ||
+            {mode: modename, mime: modename};
 
         require([
                 // might want to use CodeMirror.modeURL here
diff --git a/IPython/html/static/edit/js/editor.js b/IPython/html/static/edit/js/editor.js
index f2db0c8..53320b6 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/edit/js/editor.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/edit/js/editor.js
@@ -41,12 +41,10 @@ function($,
                 cm.clearHistory();
 
                 // Find and load the highlighting mode
-                var modeinfo = CodeMirror.findModeByMIME(model.mimetype);
-                if (modeinfo) {
-                    utils.requireCodeMirrorMode(modeinfo.mode, function() {
-                        cm.setOption('mode', modeinfo.mode);
-                    });
-                }
+                utils.requireCodeMirrorMode(model.mimetype, function(spec) {
+                    var mode = CodeMirror.getMode({}, spec);
+                    cm.setOption('mode', mode);
+                });
                 that.save_enabled = true;
             },
             function(error) {
diff --git a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
index 7b09d3d..3fedb9a 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
@@ -1587,14 +1587,14 @@ define([
         codecell.CodeCell.options_default.cm_config.mode = newmode;
         
         var that = this;
-        utils.requireCodeMirrorMode(newmode, function () {
+        utils.requireCodeMirrorMode(newmode, function (spec) {
             that.get_cells().map(function(cell, i) {
                 if (cell.cell_type === 'code'){
-                    cell.code_mirror.setOption('mode', newmode);
+                    cell.code_mirror.setOption('mode', spec);
                     // This is currently redundant, because cm_config ends up as
                     // codemirror's own .options object, but I don't want to
                     // rely on that.
-                    cell.cm_config.mode = newmode;
+                    cell.cm_config.mode = spec;
                 }
             });
         });