When creating an Element with a ref from inside of a constructor an error is thrown in production mode, but not in dev mode.

Here is a minimal sample:
https://jsfiddle.net/84v837e9/35/

An error, "Only a ReactOwner can have refs", should happen in dev and production modes.

This is happening in React 15.4
if (!this._renderedComponent) {
      return;
    }
    var inst = this._instance;
    if (inst.componentWillUnmount && !inst._calledComponentWillUnmount) {
      inst._calledComponentWillUnmount = true;
      if (safely) {
        if (!skipLifecycle) {
          var name = this.getName() + '.componentWillUnmount()';
          ReactErrorUtils.invokeGuardedCallbackAndCatchFirstError(
            name,
            inst.componentWillUnmount,
            inst,
          );
        }
      } else {
        if (__DEV__) {
          measureLifeCyclePerf(
            () => inst.componentWillUnmount(),
            this._debugID,
            'componentWillUnmount',
          );
        } else {
          inst.componentWillUnmount();
        }
      }
    }
    if (this._renderedComponent) {
      ReactReconciler.unmountComponent(
        this._renderedComponent,