Burns worked on material for his first album, "Songs for Dustmites", for two and a half years at a small studio in his home in Brooklyn before it was produced by PIAS Records in late 2002. He started work on the album after he left "Blue's Clues" in 2002, and it was later released in 2003. He posted eleven songs on his webpage, and then realizing he needed help with drums and arrangements went to Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips for advice. Drozd assisted Burns with six tracks, Lips bassist Michael Ivins engineered the album, and longtime Lips producer David Fridmann produced it. One of the songs from the album, "Mighty Little Man," is used as the opening theme for the CBS series "Young Sheldon."