diff --git a/bin/disk-image-create b/bin/disk-image-create
index 3a913b27..acb50492 100755
--- a/bin/disk-image-create
+++ b/bin/disk-image-create
@@ -450,9 +450,9 @@ for X in ${!IMAGE_TYPES[@]} ; do
   fi
 done
 
-if [[ ! $IMAGE_ELEMENT =~ ironic-agent ]]; then
-    # Prep filesystem by discarding all unused space
-    fstrim_image
+if [[ ! $IMAGE_ELEMENT =~ no-final-image ]]; then
+  # Prep filesystem by discarding all unused space
+  fstrim_image
 fi
 
 # Unmount and cleanup the /mnt and /build subdirectories, to save
@@ -460,8 +460,8 @@ fi
 unmount_image
 cleanup_build_dir
 
-has_raw_type=
-if [[ ! $IMAGE_ELEMENT =~ ironic-agent && "$IS_RAMDISK" == "0" ]]; then
+if [[ (! $IMAGE_ELEMENT =~ no-final-image) && "$IS_RAMDISK" == "0" ]]; then
+  has_raw_type=
   for IMAGE_TYPE in ${IMAGE_TYPES[@]} ; do
     # We have to do raw last because it is destructive
     if [ "$IMAGE_TYPE" = "raw" ]; then
@@ -470,10 +470,10 @@ if [[ ! $IMAGE_ELEMENT =~ ironic-agent && "$IS_RAMDISK" == "0" ]]; then
       compress_and_save_image $IMAGE_NAME.$IMAGE_TYPE
     fi
   done
-fi
-if [ -n "$has_raw_type" ]; then
-  IMAGE_TYPE="raw"
-  compress_and_save_image $IMAGE_NAME.$IMAGE_TYPE
+  if [ -n "$has_raw_type" ]; then
+    IMAGE_TYPE="raw"
+    compress_and_save_image $IMAGE_NAME.$IMAGE_TYPE
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Remove the leftovers, i.e. the temporary image directory.
diff --git a/elements/ironic-agent/element-deps b/elements/ironic-agent/element-deps
index ee8155c4..27cda407 100644
--- a/elements/ironic-agent/element-deps
+++ b/elements/ironic-agent/element-deps
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 dhcp-all-interfaces
+no-final-image
 package-installs
 pip-and-virtualenv
 pkg-map
diff --git a/elements/no-final-image/README.rst b/elements/no-final-image/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..737dc1e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/no-final-image/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+==============
+no-final-image
+==============
+
+This is a noop element which can be used to indicate to diskimage-builder that
+it should not bother creating a final image out of the generated filesystem.
+It is useful in cases where an element handles all of the image building
+itself, such as ironic-agent or Docker images.  In those cases the final image
+normally generated by diskimage-builder is not the desired output, so there's
+no reason to spend time creating it.
+
+Elements that wish to behave this way should include this element in their
+element-deps file.