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So the "Eternal Champion" got one of the Staff pieces from Dagoth Ur (the place) during the events of Arena. I haven't got that far in my on/off play through, but I'm assuming it's a pretty usual looking sort of dungeon.

But what would it have looked like in retrospect from Morrowind? I guess Dagoth Ur (the character) was still not very active at this time, but he would have been doing something to prepare for the events of Morrowind. And what would that mini-adventure have been like for the Champion? What could we assume the Champion saw at this time?

In the actual game, it was represented as a volcano on the map, but the interior dungeon cell was one of those "lava castle" dungeons. I can't recall the enemy types. I died a lot in Arena, and found it a frustrating experience.

If we assume (as we rightfully should!) that Arena as a game is not a perfect representation of what the Champion would have seen in the actual lore, then it makes sense that Dagoth Ur - being built on the foundation of old Dwemer ruins - would still contain some Dwemer constructs. If a person were to remake Arena with our current understanding of lore and geography, that person would probably design Dagoth Ur at this time period as part cave, part Dwemer ruin. He would encounter both Dwarven constructs and the agents of Jagar Tharn who seem to infest all these ruins - so things like vampires, assassins, giant spiders etc.

In Arena, the dungeon beneath Dagoth Ur was specifically a Dwarven mine, located in the centre of the "Black Isle". You can see a picture here, which shows off a number of surrounding mini-volcanos as well as some pre-Redguard Dwarven architecture.

If you want to try to reconcile the events of Arena with the events of Morrowind, I suggest considering the dungeon at the base of the mountain as a completely separate place to the Dwemer ruin in the caldera. If the Tribunal can't even get inside the Heart Chamber, there's no way Jagar Tharn just waltzed in and used the place as his personal gauntlet. But a long-lost mine in the middle of the Red Mountain region, surrounded by awakening Sixth House monsters? Seems like an ideal hidey hole.

...I sometimes wonder how much of a reach it is to imagine that Lord Vorayn Dagoth's headdress was a dragon priest mask...

Considering that Sotha Sil and the Indoril wear similar styled masks, I'd say it's a big stretch.

About the only similarity to Dagoth Ur's mask and a Dragon Priest mask is that they're both masks. I'd say it's more likely the masks that Dagoth and the Tribunal wear are based on old Velothi representations of certain deities or concepts. Alma's mask has a snake face and tusks, and might represent Boethiah, for instance. Dagoth's appears to resemble the sun, Magnus, and important figure in ancient Elven religion.

This topic only reminded me of that dragon that apparently had hidden in red mountain, but I'm having trouble finding mention of it now. Being the enormous feature that it is, it's not hard to imagine the characters that may have dwelt there over the ages or even simultaneously without ever meeting one another.

And like I said, it's a stretch, but there's also reason enough to imagine that they did meet.

Twin Secrets mentions a dragon found lairing "in the smoking ruins of Vvardenfell", but says nothing about Red Mountain.

My favorite thing about that story is that - much like with Durhehviir - it's a demonstration that Dragons' interest and aptitude with magic extends far beyond the Thu'um. Shouting is one particular kind of magic they can do naturally, but they can do it all. They enchanted the Dragon Priests' staves and masks themselves, after all, and presented them as symbols of power.

I doubt the Chimeri gods would bother wearing a dragon priest mask. Their power far surpassed it

The only reason I can think of to wear an enemy piece of armor would be bragging rights - a trophy of sorts. This happened a lot in the real world, and in Tamriel as well. I honestly just believe the Tribunal masks have religious significance in Velothi culture, though. As mentioned before, Almalexia's reflect Boethiah pretty well, which is the more primitive, bestial nature of the concepts she represents as Mother Morrowind.