diff --git a/build/common.sh b/build/common.sh
index f97f38a1b90e4..dd1764e7f414e 100755
--- a/build/common.sh
+++ b/build/common.sh
@@ -1228,7 +1228,8 @@ function kube::release::gcs::copy_release_artifacts() {
 
   gsutil ls -lhr "${gcs_destination}" || return 1
 
-  if [[ -n "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR:-}" ]]; then
+  if [[ -n "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR:-}" ]] &&
+     [[ "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR}" != "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET}" ]]; then
     local -r gcs_mirror="gs://${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR}/${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_PREFIX}"
     kube::log::status "Mirroring build to ${gcs_mirror}"
     gsutil -q -m "${gcs_options[@]+${gcs_options[@]}}" rsync -d -r "${gcs_destination}" "${gcs_mirror}" || return 1
@@ -1504,7 +1505,8 @@ function kube::release::gcs::publish() {
 
   kube::release::gcs::publish_to_bucket "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET}" "${publish_file}" || return 1
 
-  if [[ -n "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR:-}" ]]; then
+  if [[ -n "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR:-}" ]] &&
+     [[ "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR}" != "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET}" ]]; then
     kube::release::gcs::publish_to_bucket "${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR}" "${publish_file}" || return 1
   fi
 }
diff --git a/build/push-ci-build.sh b/build/push-ci-build.sh
index 10892982f6f35..823884e2b9c6f 100755
--- a/build/push-ci-build.sh
+++ b/build/push-ci-build.sh
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ KUBE_GCS_NO_CACHING='n'
 KUBE_GCS_MAKE_PUBLIC='y'
 KUBE_GCS_UPLOAD_RELEASE='y'
 KUBE_GCS_DELETE_EXISTING='n'
-: ${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET:='kubernetes-release'}
-: ${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET_MIRROR:='kubernetes-release-dev'}
+: ${KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_BUCKET:='kubernetes-release-dev'}
 KUBE_GCS_RELEASE_PREFIX="ci/${LATEST}"
 KUBE_GCS_PUBLISH_VERSION="${LATEST}"