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
unmaskedContext,
  ) {
    var inst = this._instance;
    var hasComponentDidUpdate = !!inst.componentDidUpdate;
    var prevProps;
    var prevState;
    if (hasComponentDidUpdate) {
      prevProps = inst.props;
      prevState = inst.state;
    }
    if (inst.componentWillUpdate) {
      if (__DEV__) {
        measureLifeCyclePerf(
          () => inst.componentWillUpdate(nextProps, nextState, nextContext),
          this._debugID,
          'componentWillUpdate',
        );
      } else {
        inst.componentWillUpdate(nextProps, nextState, nextContext);
      }
    }
    this._currentElement = nextElement;
    this._context = unmaskedContext;
    inst.props = nextProps;
    inst.state = nextState;
    inst.context = nextContext;
    if (inst.componentDidCatch) {
      this._updateRenderedComponentWithErrorHandling(
        transaction,
        unmaskedContext,