diff --git a/script/release/Dockerfile b/script/release/Dockerfile
index 0d4ec27e1..e5af676a5 100644
--- a/script/release/Dockerfile
+++ b/script/release/Dockerfile
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ RUN mkdir -p /src && pip install -U Jinja2==2.10 \
     PyGithub==1.39 \
     pypandoc==1.4 \
     GitPython==2.1.9 \
-    requests==2.18.4 && \
+    requests==2.18.4 \
+    twine==1.11.0 && \
     apt-get update && apt-get install -y pandoc
 
 VOLUME /src/script/release
diff --git a/script/release/release.py b/script/release/release.py
index add8fb2d3..d0545a7e6 100755
--- a/script/release/release.py
+++ b/script/release/release.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from release.utils import ScriptError
 from release.utils import update_init_py_version
 from release.utils import update_run_sh_version
 from release.utils import yesno
+from twine.commands.upload import main as twine_upload
 
 
 def create_initial_branch(repository, args):
@@ -78,10 +79,9 @@ def monitor_pr_status(pr_data):
                     continue
                 summary[detail.state] += 1
             print('{pending} pending, {success} successes, {failure} failures'.format(**summary))
-            if status.total_count == 0:
-                # Mostly for testing purposes against repos with no CI setup
-                return True
-            elif summary['pending'] == 0 and summary['failure'] == 0:
+            if summary['pending'] == 0 and summary['failure'] == 0 and summary['success'] > 0:
+                # This check assumes at least 1 non-DCO CI check to avoid race conditions.
+                # If testing on a repo without CI, use --skip-ci-check to avoid looping eternally
                 return True
             elif summary['failure'] > 0:
                 raise ScriptError('CI failures detected!')
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ def resume(args):
         if not pr_data:
             pr_data = repository.create_release_pull_request(args.release)
         check_pr_mergeable(pr_data)
-        monitor_pr_status(pr_data)
+        if not args.skip_ci:
+            monitor_pr_status(pr_data)
         downloader = BinaryDownloader(args.destination)
         files = downloader.download_all(args.release)
         if not gh_release:
@@ -195,7 +196,8 @@ def start(args):
         create_initial_branch(repository, args)
         pr_data = repository.create_release_pull_request(args.release)
         check_pr_mergeable(pr_data)
-        monitor_pr_status(pr_data)
+        if not args.skip_ci:
+            monitor_pr_status(pr_data)
         downloader = BinaryDownloader(args.destination)
         files = downloader.download_all(args.release)
         gh_release = create_release_draft(repository, args.release, pr_data, files)
@@ -239,8 +241,8 @@ def finalize(args):
         if not merge_status.merged:
             raise ScriptError('Unable to merge PR #{}: {}'.format(pr_data.number, merge_status.message))
         print('Uploading to PyPi')
-        run_setup(os.path.join(REPO_ROOT, 'setup.py'), script_args=['upload'])
-        img_manager.push_images(args.release)
+        twine_upload(['dist/*'])
+        img_manager.push_images()
         repository.publish_release(gh_release)
     except ScriptError as e:
         print(e)
@@ -310,6 +312,10 @@ def main():
         '--no-cherries', '-C', dest='cherries', action='store_false',
         help='If set, the program will not prompt the user for PR numbers to cherry-pick'
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '--skip-ci-checks', dest='skip_ci', action='store_true',
+        help='If set, the program will not wait for CI jobs to complete'
+    )
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     if args.action == 'start':
diff --git a/script/release/release.sh b/script/release/release.sh
index 2310429aa..f592365d3 100755
--- a/script/release/release.sh
+++ b/script/release/release.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ docker run -e GITHUB_TOKEN=$GITHUB_TOKEN -e BINTRAY_TOKEN=$BINTRAY_TOKEN -it \
     --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/src \
     --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd)/.git,target=/src/.git \
     --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/.docker,target=/root/.docker \
+    --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/.gitconfig,target=/root/.gitconfig
     --mount type=bind,source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock \
     --mount type=bind,source=$HOME/.ssh,target=/root/.ssh \
     -v $HOME/.pypirc:/root/.pypirc \