diff --git a/pkgs/applications/video/mkvtoolnix/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/video/mkvtoolnix/default.nix
index 4eac16d349bf..257d21ecc03b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/video/mkvtoolnix/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/video/mkvtoolnix/default.nix
@@ -122,11 +122,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   dontWrapQtApps = true;
 
-  # Avoid Qt 5.12 problem on Big Sur: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-87014
-  qtWrapperArgs = lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
-    "--set QT_MAC_WANTS_LAYER 1"
-  ];
-
   postFixup = optionalString withGUI ''
     wrapQtApp $out/bin/mkvtoolnix-gui
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
index 033cc2f872ab..30fd21f2f83e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
@@ -187,11 +187,6 @@ let
     # Fix linker error on Darwin (see https://trac.macports.org/ticket/61865)
     NIX_LDFLAGS = lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-lobjc";
 
-    # Avoid Qt 5.12 problem on Big Sur: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-87014
-    qtWrapperArgs = lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
-      "--set QT_MAC_WANTS_LAYER 1"
-    ];
-
     # See https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?50339
     F77_INTEGER_8_FLAG = if use64BitIdx then "-fdefault-integer-8" else "";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-5/5.12/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-5/5.12/default.nix
index 0f5eb19474e4..a047b5b71081 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-5/5.12/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-5/5.12/default.nix
@@ -70,6 +70,17 @@ let
       # Ensure -I${includedir} is added to Cflags in pkg-config files.
       # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/52457
       ./qtbase.patch.d/0014-qtbase-pkg-config.patch
+
+      # Make Qt applications work on macOS Big Sur even if they're
+      # built with an older version of the macOS SDK (<10.14). This
+      # issue is fixed in 5.12.11, but it requires macOS SDK 10.13 to
+      # build. See https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-87014 for
+      # more info.
+      (fetchpatch {
+        name = "big_sur_layer_backed_views.patch";
+        url = "https://codereview.qt-project.org/gitweb?p=qt/qtbase.git;a=patch;h=c5d904639dbd690a36306e2b455610029704d821";
+        sha256 = "0crkw3j1iwdc1pbf5dhar0b4q3h5gs2q1sika8m12y02yk3ns697";
+      })
     ];
     qtdeclarative = [ ./qtdeclarative.patch ];
     qtlocation = [ ./qtlocation-gcc-9.patch ];