Same thing happened to me last night on a small cherry table I picked up at a garage sale. On my first layer of poly, however. I think my polyurethane is bad. I read some other web sites, and I think I'm going to lightly sand the top with a high grade sandpaper (maybe 320) and then re-do my top coat with a fresh can of poly.

If anybody else can weigh in, it's much appreciated!

A perfect smooth finish from a can will always entail hand-rubbing of some fashion. Your wipe-on poly will solve 99 percent of the dust problem, but will be more of a satin finish. For gloss you would need to rub out the finish, but poly can't be satisfactorally rubbed out. You would start with a old-fashioned oil varnish with no poly resin, and then rub it out with rottenstone and water on a special felt rubbing block. It yields an amazingly smooth and shiny finish.
But as things stand a wipe-on is your best bet. Just use your poly, thin it a bit, and brush on, wipe to even it to a thin coat with a lint-free very finely-woven cotton rag.
Casey