Normally, access to a production system is precluded on grounds of compliance regarding access to private data, rather than any possible consequences of running DMVs themselves. I'd agree that they don't leave a footprint. Normally, the statistics blobs have to be scripted off by production staff for the same reason. This is why a PowerShell routine is so handy, since it makes it easier for them, and can be scheduled so that a history can be kept.
Also note that 'Performance Tuning with SQL Server Dynamic Management Views' http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/books/70486/ by Tim Ford and Louis Davidson is also packed with such information, and is available from this site as an Eblook entirely free
Best wishes,
Phil Factor