Reports cannot be run without defined columns in Lightning

In Salesforce Lightning Experience, Reports must have at least one column defined to run successfully.

Error When Report is Saved in Lightning (API)

Lightning Reports are not designed to be run without any columns defined. Such a report, when edited and saved in Lightning, will add all of the report type's available fields as columns. If the report type has more than 100 fields, accessing the report via API will result in the following error:

"BAD_REQUEST"
"Only a report with fewer than 100 columns can be run. The columns are fields specified as detail columns, summaries, or custom summary formulas. Remove unneeded columns from the report and try again."

Error When Report is Saved in Classic and Run in Lightning (API)

If a report without columns is saved in Classic and run in Lightning, the below error will occur on the run page:

"We ran into an error when running this report. Try to re-submit your query."

Accessing the report via API results in this error message:

"BAD_REQUEST"
"Can't run the report because it doesn't have any columns selected. Be sure to add fields as columns to the report through the user interface."