Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff may have looked fab onstage, but things weren't quite in step behind the scenes.

An insider reports the ex-couple exchanged some heated words before and after their performance.

"They were going at it, screaming at each other," an eyewitness tells me. "He said she was taking too long in hair and makeup. It got kind of loud."

Backstage at the Lipton Green Vitali Tea gift lounge, questions about the breakup were off-limits, but Karina said she couldn't be happier with their dance routine...

"It was nerve-racking, especially when we heard the announcer say, 'From Dancing With the Stars...,' " Karina just told me. "My heart jumped out a couple of times, but then I was like, 'Enjoy this because how often do you get to perform at the Emmys.'

"And then it just felt like it went very fast," she continued. "I wanted to do it a couple of more times to really get into it."

What she did really get into was the swag. Karina checked out products from Nespresso, Palm Pixi, FlipMinoHD, AMC and the very expensive Santoni shoe line.

Check back here tomorrow for more from Karina and scoop on which surprise guests may pop up on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.

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Catch all the red carpet glamour by checking out our Emmys Arrivals Gallery.

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