Burton's ten men just failed to rescue a point after scoring two late goals in a bad tempered affair at Eton Park.
Barnet seemed to be strolling to victory when they built a three-goal lead after Brewers midfielder Christian Moore had been sent off for violent conduct.
But the Londoners had to hang on at the end as Burton dragged themselves off the floor to score headed goals by Robbie Talbot and Steve Chettle.
Referee Shaun Proctor-Green was the busiest man on the pitch, dishing out eight yellow cards as well as showing Moore a red one.
Barnet were the big offenders in the first half when they gave away the majority of the 30 fouls that made it a stop-start affair.
But the visitors also had a monopoly of the ball and could easily have been in front in the first 15 minutes.
One spell of heavy pressure had Burton reeling with Ismail Yakabu having an overhead kick blocked before Ben Strevens had his lob tipped over by Matt Duke and Yakabu was denied again, this time by Darren Stride's goal-line clearance.
Burton finally yielded to this pressure in the 36th minute, when the dangerous Yakabu pulled the ball back from the byline and Giuliano Grazioli scooped the ball over the line at the second attempt despite being off balance.
It went from bad to worse for Burton in an 11-minute spell of the second half.
Moore was sent off in the 48th minute for elbowing Joe Gamble and 11 minutes later the home team shot themselves in the foot again when Terry Henshaw's mis-hit clearance 20 yards out looped over the head of Duke and into his own net.
Barnet stretched their lead with a superb breakaway attack that ended with Grazioli tapping in his second goal from Mark Rooney's low cross to the far post.
But Burton fought back bravely after re-organising their attack and Talbot scored his first goal since joining the club with a close range header from Aaron Webster's corner in the 84th minute.
Barnet were found wanting at another set piece three minutes later when Chettle powered home a header from Jon Howard's corner but despite frantic late pressure the Londoners held out for what was, in truth, a deserved victory.