diff --git a/Database/MongoDB/Admin.hs b/Database/MongoDB/Admin.hs
--- a/Database/MongoDB/Admin.hs
+++ b/Database/MongoDB/Admin.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 -- | Database administrative functions
 
-{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts, OverloadedStrings, RecordWildCards #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts, OverloadedStrings, RecordWildCards, PatternGuards #-}
 
 module Database.MongoDB.Admin (
 	-- * Admin
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 	CollectionOption(..), createCollection, renameCollection, dropCollection,
     validateCollection,
 	-- ** Index
-	Index(..), IndexName, index, ensureIndex, createIndex, dropIndex,
+	Index(..), IndexOpts(..), IndexName, index, ensureIndex, createIndex, dropIndex, defaultIndexOpts,
     getIndexes, dropIndexes,
 	-- ** User
 	allUsers, addUser, removeUser,
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Control (MonadBaseControl)
 import Data.Bson (Document, Field(..), at, (=:), (=?), exclude, merge)
 import Data.Text (Text)
+import Data.Maybe (mapMaybe, catMaybes)
 
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 
@@ -91,25 +92,63 @@
 
 type IndexName = Text
 
+data IndexOpts = IndexOpts
+                   { unique :: Bool
+                   , dropDups :: Bool
+                   , background :: Bool
+                   , sparse :: Bool
+                   , expireAfterSeconds :: Maybe Int
+                   , defaultLanguage :: Maybe Text
+                   , languageOverride :: Maybe Text
+                   -- too lazy to add this one
+                   -- , weights :: [Weight]
+                   -- nobody needs this
+                   -- , iVersion :: Int = 1
+                   } deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | Unlike the shell, this defaults background to True
+defaultIndexOpts :: IndexOpts
+defaultIndexOpts = IndexOpts
+                     { unique = False
+                     , dropDups = False
+                     , background = True
+                     , sparse = False
+                     , expireAfterSeconds = Nothing
+                     , defaultLanguage = Nothing
+                     , languageOverride = Nothing
+                     }
+
 data Index = Index {
-	iColl :: Collection,
-	iKey :: Order,
-	iName :: IndexName,
-	iUnique :: Bool,
-	iDropDups :: Bool
-	} deriving (Show, Eq)
+    iColl :: Collection,
+    iKey :: Order,
+    iName :: IndexName,
+    iOpts :: IndexOpts
+    } deriving (Show, Eq)
 
 idxDocument :: Index -> Database -> Document
-idxDocument Index{..} db = [
-	"ns" =: db <.> iColl,
-	"key" =: iKey,
-	"name" =: iName,
-	"unique" =: iUnique,
-	"dropDups" =: iDropDups ]
+idxDocument Index{..} db =
+   [ "ns" =: db <.> iColl
+   , "key" =: iKey
+   , "name" =: iName
+   ] ++ mapMaybe addBool
+   [ ("unique", unique)
+   , ("dropDups", dropDups)
+   , ("background", background)
+   , ("sparse", sparse)
+   ] ++ catMaybes
+   [ addMay ("expireAfterSeconds", expireAfterSeconds)
+   , addMay ("defaultLanguage", defaultLanguage)
+   , addMay ("languageOverride", languageOverride)
+   ]
+  where
+    addBool (label, accessor) | accessor iOpts = Just (label =: True)
+                              | otherwise = Nothing
+    addMay (label, accessor)  | Just result <- accessor iOpts = Just (label =: result)
+                              | otherwise = Nothing
 
 index :: Collection -> Order -> Index
 -- ^ Spec of index of ordered keys on collection. Name is generated from keys. Unique and dropDups are False.
-index coll keys = Index coll keys (genName keys) False False
+index coll keys = Index coll keys (genName keys) defaultIndexOpts
 
 genName :: Order -> IndexName
 genName keys = T.intercalate "_" (map f keys)  where
diff --git a/mongoDB.cabal b/mongoDB.cabal
--- a/mongoDB.cabal
+++ b/mongoDB.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           mongoDB
-Version:        1.4.4
+Version:        1.5.0
 Synopsis:       Driver (client) for MongoDB, a free, scalable, fast, document
                 DBMS
 Description:    This package lets you connect to MongoDB servers and