Using russian (non-ascii) symbols (7-letter word): 
use utf8;
use open OUT => ':utf8';
use DBI;
my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database=mybase;host=localhost;port=
+3306", "login", "pass");
#$dbh->do('SET CHARACTER SET utf8');

open TST, '>utftest1.txt';
binmode TST;
print TST "русский";

$test = $dbh->selectrow_array("SELECT 'русс&#1
+082;ий'");
open TST, '>utftest2.txt';
binmode TST;
print TST $test;

[download]
Result: file utftest1.txt contains 14 bytes, I can see the word in it with any text editor (7 symbols x 2 bytes, makes sense). file utftest2.txt contains 28 bytes of I don't know what: 
0000000000: C3 91 C2 80 C3 91 C2 83 | C3 91 C2 81 C3 91 C2 81
0000000010: C3 90 C2 BA C3 90 C2 B8 | C3 90 C2 B9

[download]
Uncommenting line with base character set changes nothing.

In reply to utf-8 problems by Sly_G

Title:
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