Invasive createCommand() method you can add to your own Yii ActiveRecord extension.

ActiveRecord_createCommand.php

<?php

class ActiveRecord extends CActiveRecord
{
    /**
     * Create and configure a CDbCommand instance based on current criteria.
     *
     * Think twice before using this method - use only in cases where being able to stream
     * through the raw SQL record-sets is crucial, usually for performance reasons, when
     * dealing with very large record sets.
     *
     * This often will not do what you expect, at least not in the first attempt - Yii AR
     * writes queries that are optimized for Yii, and not always fit for human consumption.
     *
     * if you're going to grab the raw SQL command with this method:
     *
     *   - DON'T use CActiveRecord::together() - you won't get what you were expecting!
     *   - DO add custom CDbCriteria::$select clauses, since Yii garbles column names by
     *     default; you probably want to be selective about which columns you select anyway.
     *
     * @param mixed $condition query condition or criteria.
     * @param array $params    parameters to be bound to an SQL statement.
     *
     * @return CDbCommand DANGER DANGER, ENTER THE GRAVE YARD CHAMBER
     * @see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auqur-Nz-X8
     */
    public function createCommand($condition = '', $params = array())
    {
        // create criteria and apply active scope:
        $criteria = $this->getCommandBuilder()->createCriteria($condition, $params);
        $this->applyScopes($criteria);

        // get an ActiveFinder instance for the model:
        $finder = $this->getActiveFinder($criteria->with ?: array());

        // hack into CActiveFinder to obtain the join-tree:

        static $accessor;

        if (!$accessor) {
            $accessor = new ReflectionProperty('CActiveFinder', '_joinTree');
            $accessor->setAccessible(true);
        }

        /** @var CJoinElement $joinTree */
        $joinTree = $accessor->getValue($finder);

        // construct your own join-query instance using the stolen join-tree:
        $query = new CJoinQuery($joinTree, $criteria);

        // build the query:
        $joinTree->buildQuery($query);

        // create the command for the query:
        return $query->createCommand($this->getCommandBuilder());
    }
}