diff --git a/ibis/backends/tests/test_array.py b/ibis/backends/tests/test_array.py
index 8e91d22c49fc..8f1e2d39ed00 100644
--- a/ibis/backends/tests/test_array.py
+++ b/ibis/backends/tests/test_array.py
@@ -1059,3 +1059,14 @@ def test_repr_timestamp_array(con, monkeypatch):
     assert ibis.options.default_backend is con
     expr = ibis.array(pd.date_range("2010-01-01", "2010-01-03", freq="D").tolist())
     assert repr(expr)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.notyet(
+    ["dask", "datafusion", "flink", "pandas", "polars"],
+    raises=com.OperationNotDefinedError,
+)
+def test_unnest_range(con):
+    expr = ibis.range(2).unnest().name("x").as_table().mutate({"y": 1.0})
+    result = con.execute(expr)
+    expected = pd.DataFrame({"x": np.array([0, 1], dtype="int8"), "y": [1.0, 1.0]})
+    tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
diff --git a/ibis/backends/tests/test_generic.py b/ibis/backends/tests/test_generic.py
index 6bfefccb1922..ad3b12ef363b 100644
--- a/ibis/backends/tests/test_generic.py
+++ b/ibis/backends/tests/test_generic.py
@@ -1741,3 +1741,16 @@ def test_simple_memtable_construct(con):
     # because memtables have a unique name per table per process, so smoke test
     # it
     assert str(ibis.to_sql(expr, dialect=con.name)).startswith("SELECT")
+
+
+def test_select_mutate_with_dict(backend):
+    t = backend.functional_alltypes
+    expr = t.mutate({"a": 1.0}).select("a").limit(1)
+
+    result = expr.execute()
+    expected = pd.DataFrame({"a": [1.0]})
+
+    backend.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
+    expr = t.select({"a": ibis.literal(1.0)}).limit(1)
+    backend.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
diff --git a/ibis/expr/types/relations.py b/ibis/expr/types/relations.py
index 030442361f0a..a66dea273878 100644
--- a/ibis/expr/types/relations.py
+++ b/ibis/expr/types/relations.py
@@ -1800,17 +1800,24 @@ def mutate(
         import ibis.expr.analysis as an
 
         exprs = [] if exprs is None else util.promote_list(exprs)
-        exprs = itertools.chain(
-            itertools.chain.from_iterable(
-                util.promote_list(_ensure_expr(self, expr)) for expr in exprs
-            ),
-            (
-                e.name(name)
-                for name, expr in mutations.items()
-                for e in util.promote_list(_ensure_expr(self, expr))
-            ),
+
+        new_exprs = []
+
+        for expr in exprs:
+            if isinstance(expr, Mapping):
+                new_exprs.extend(
+                    _ensure_expr(self, val).name(name) for name, val in expr.items()
+                )
+            else:
+                new_exprs.extend(util.promote_list(_ensure_expr(self, expr)))
+
+        new_exprs.extend(
+            e.name(name)
+            for name, expr in mutations.items()
+            for e in util.promote_list(_ensure_expr(self, expr))
         )
-        mutation_exprs = an.get_mutation_exprs(list(exprs), self)
+
+        mutation_exprs = an.get_mutation_exprs(new_exprs, self)
         return self.select(mutation_exprs)
 
     def select(
@@ -1993,31 +2000,34 @@ def select(
         import ibis.expr.analysis as an
         from ibis.selectors import Selector
 
-        exprs = [
-            e
-            for expr in exprs
-            for e in (
-                expr.expand(self)
-                if isinstance(expr, Selector)
-                else map(self._ensure_expr, util.promote_list(expr))
-            )
-        ]
-        exprs.extend(
+        new_exprs = []
+
+        for expr in exprs:
+            if isinstance(expr, Selector):
+                new_exprs.extend(expr.expand(self))
+            elif isinstance(expr, Mapping):
+                new_exprs.extend(
+                    self._ensure_expr(value).name(name) for name, value in expr.items()
+                )
+            else:
+                new_exprs.extend(map(self._ensure_expr, util.promote_list(expr)))
+
+        new_exprs.extend(
             self._ensure_expr(expr).name(name) for name, expr in named_exprs.items()
         )
 
-        if not exprs:
+        if not new_exprs:
             raise com.IbisTypeError(
                 "You must select at least one column for a valid projection"
             )
-        for ex in exprs:
+        for ex in new_exprs:
             if not isinstance(ex, Expr):
                 raise com.IbisTypeError(
                     "All arguments to `.select` must be coerceable to "
                     f"expressions - got {type(ex)!r}"
                 )
 
-        op = an.Projector(self, exprs).get_result()
+        op = an.Projector(self, new_exprs).get_result()
 
         return op.to_expr()
 
diff --git a/ibis/util.py b/ibis/util.py
index d9e0bc1544e6..9b95a12d2c47 100644
--- a/ibis/util.py
+++ b/ibis/util.py
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ def promote_list(val: V | Sequence[V]) -> list[V]:
     """
     if isinstance(val, list):
         return val
+    elif isinstance(val, dict):
+        return [val]
     elif is_iterable(val):
         return list(val)
     elif val is None: