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
*   - [children's constructors]
 *     - [children's componentWillMount and render]
 *     - [children's componentDidMount]
 *     - componentDidMount
 *
 *       Update Phases:
 *       - componentWillReceiveProps (only called if parent updated)
 *       - shouldComponentUpdate
 *         - componentWillUpdate
 *           - render
 *           - [children's constructors or receive props phases]
 *         - componentDidUpdate
 *
 *     - componentWillUnmount
 *     - [children's componentWillUnmount]
 *   - [children destroyed]
 * - (destroyed): The instance is now blank, released by React and ready for GC.
 *
 * -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 */
/**
 * An incrementing ID assigned to each component when it is mounted. This is
 * used to enforce the order in which `ReactUpdates` updates dirty components.
 *
 * @private
 */
var nextMountID = 1;
/**
 * @lends {ReactCompositeComponent.prototype}
 */