diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlus.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlus.php
index 56bd92f..3a9b386 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlus.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlus.php
@@ -226,18 +226,26 @@ public static function createFromFormat($format, $time, $timezone = NULL, $setti
       // re-creating the date/time formatted string and comparing it to the input. For
       // instance, an input value of '11' using a format of Y (4 digits) gets
       // created as '0011' instead of '2011'.
-      if ($date instanceof DateTimePlus) {
-        $test_time = $date->format($format, $settings);
-      }
-      elseif ($date instanceof \DateTime) {
-        $test_time = $date->format($format);
-      }
-      $datetimeplus->setTimestamp($date->getTimestamp());
-      $datetimeplus->setTimezone($date->getTimezone());
+      $test_time = $date->format($format);
 
       if ($settings['validate_format'] && $test_time != $time) {
         throw new \Exception('The created date does not match the input value.');
       }
+
+      // We now know we have a valid date. We build up the internal \DateTime
+      // object without going through a Unix timestamp by using the individual
+      // parts of the date.
+      $parts = date_parse($date->format(static::FORMAT));
+
+      // If the 'U' format is specified, then the time zone parameter is
+      // ignored, and we need to explicitly set the internal timezone to UTC
+      // before setting the individual parts.
+      // @see http://php.net/manual/en/datetime.createfromformat.php
+      if ($format === 'U') {
+        $datetimeplus->setTimezone(new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));
+      }
+      $datetimeplus->setDate($parts['year'], $parts['month'], $parts['day'])
+        ->setTime($parts['hour'], $parts['minute'], $parts['second']);
     }
     return $datetimeplus;
   }
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlusTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlusTest.php
index b8be130..fc19a13 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlusTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/Tests/Component/Datetime/DateTimePlusTest.php
@@ -303,6 +303,10 @@ public function providerTestDates() {
       array('2009-03-07 10:30', 'Australia/Canberra', '2009-03-07T10:30:00+11:00'),
       // Same during daylight savings time.
       array('2009-06-07 10:30', 'Australia/Canberra', '2009-06-07T10:30:00+10:00'),
+      // Create a date object in the distant past.
+      array('1809-02-12 10:30', 'America/Chicago', '1809-02-12T10:30:00-06:00'),
+      // Create a date object in the far future.
+      array('2345-01-02 02:04', 'UTC', '2345-01-02T02:04:00+00:00'),
     );
   }
 
@@ -326,6 +330,10 @@ public function providerTestDateArrays() {
       array(array('year' => 2010, 'month' => 2, 'day' => 28), 'Europe/Berlin', '2010-02-28T00:00:00+01:00'),
       // Create date object from date array with hour.
       array(array('year' => 2010, 'month' => 2, 'day' => 28, 'hour' => 10), 'Europe/Berlin', '2010-02-28T10:00:00+01:00'),
+      // Create a date object in the distant past.
+      array(array('year' => 1809, 'month' => 2, 'day' => 12), 'America/Chicago', '1809-02-12T00:00:00-06:00'),
+      // Create a date object in the far future.
+      array(array('year' => 2345, 'month' => 1, 'day' => 2), 'UTC', '2345-01-02T00:00:00+00:00'),
     );
   }