Adam Rooney hit his 27th goal of the campaign to sink Dundee for the first time this term.
There was also an 18th clean sheet of the season for ex-Aberdeen keeper Ryan Esson and a sparkling display from Jonny Hayes.
And there was an apt award for one of the club's diminishing stalwarts, Stuart Golabek, who won man of the match.
A year after the heartache of relegation, there were wild scenes long after the game and two pitch invasions either side of the presentation.
When Butcher finally emerged, he said:
"You can then walk around with your head high again. It's been a year of keeping the head down and working hard.
"Nine straight wins and we've beaten every team - fabulous isn't it. And 21 unbeaten as well. Nobody can say we didn't deserve it. The players should know they've been part of something really special.
"I don't know if it will ever be repeated, what we've done. Not so much the run from nowhere but the manner of the 21 games unbeaten and the nine consecutive wins.
"We wanted to be part of that history-making process and we can now equal the club's all-time unbeaten run in the first game in the SPL."
Dundee were desperate to ruin Caley's day in the sun and Richie Hart, against his old club, tried to dampen the party mood after five minutes when he lashed in a vicious 35-yard free-kick that home keeper Esson touched to divert it on to a post.
There was also a rejected penalty claim as Craig Forsyth fell over as he went to pull the trigger under Grant Munro's attentions.
Momentum was mostly with Caley Thistle, though, with Hayes' trickery on the left causing problems for Dundee.
Sean Higgins could have opened the scoring for the visitors but after neat build-up play from the Dark Blues his effort forced a stunning reflex stop from Esson.
Three minutes later and Caley Thistle hit what proved to be the killer goal.
The lively Hayes and Russell Duncan combined before youngster Nick Ross pushed a pass into space in the box.
Rooney latched on to the pass and sent a shot squirming under the grasp of Derek Soutar from an angle to the right of the six-yard box.
Eric Odhiambo had two clear-cut chances to add to the lead before half-time but skewed both wastefully wide.
Dundee looked keener after the break but hit a brick wall in the final third.
After 71 minutes, Ross somehow hacked over the bar from barely a yard after more trickery from Hayes near the left byeline.
The wild celebrations at the end were in stark contrast to those which greeted the last-day disaster here last May.
Dejected Dundee boss Gordon Chisholm said: "I offer full congratulations to Caley Thistle. It has been a remarkable run from them and they deserve their success.
"I'll now speak to the board with a view to making changes for next season."