diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/KafkaProducer.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/KafkaProducer.java
index 74d408d9a5a49..2d5c8994b4df9 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/KafkaProducer.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/KafkaProducer.java
@@ -1465,13 +1465,21 @@ public boolean isDone() {
     private class AppendCallbacks<K, V> implements RecordAccumulator.AppendCallbacks {
         private final Callback userCallback;
         private final ProducerInterceptors<K, V> interceptors;
-        private final ProducerRecord<K, V> record;
-        protected int partition = RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION;
+        private final String topic;
+        private final Integer recordPartition;
+        private final String recordLogString;
+        private volatile int partition = RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION;
+        private volatile TopicPartition topicPartition;
 
         private AppendCallbacks(Callback userCallback, ProducerInterceptors<K, V> interceptors, ProducerRecord<K, V> record) {
             this.userCallback = userCallback;
             this.interceptors = interceptors;
-            this.record = record;
+            // Extract record info as we don't want to keep a reference to the record during
+            // whole lifetime of the batch.
+            // We don't want to have an NPE here, because the interceptors would not be notified (see .doSend).
+            topic = record != null ? record.topic() : null;
+            recordPartition = record != null ? record.partition() : null;
+            recordLogString = log.isTraceEnabled() && record != null ? record.toString() : "";
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -1491,7 +1499,7 @@ public void setPartition(int partition) {
 
             if (log.isTraceEnabled()) {
                 // Log the message here, because we don't know the partition before that.
-                log.trace("Attempting to append record {} with callback {} to topic {} partition {}", record, userCallback, record.topic(), partition);
+                log.trace("Attempting to append record {} with callback {} to topic {} partition {}", recordLogString, userCallback, topic, partition);
             }
         }
 
@@ -1500,11 +1508,15 @@ public int getPartition() {
         }
 
         public TopicPartition topicPartition() {
-            if (record == null)
-                return null;
-            return partition == RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION
-                    ? ProducerInterceptors.extractTopicPartition(record)
-                    : new TopicPartition(record.topic(), partition);
+            if (topicPartition == null && topic != null) {
+                if (partition != RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION)
+                    topicPartition = new TopicPartition(topic, partition);
+                else if (recordPartition != null)
+                    topicPartition = new TopicPartition(topic, recordPartition);
+                else
+                    topicPartition = new TopicPartition(topic, RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION);
+            }
+            return topicPartition;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/internals/RecordAccumulator.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/internals/RecordAccumulator.java
index 4168ea68aa430..a1f684ac95cd4 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/internals/RecordAccumulator.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/producer/internals/RecordAccumulator.java
@@ -297,7 +297,12 @@ public RecordAppendResult append(String topic,
                     byte maxUsableMagic = apiVersions.maxUsableProduceMagic();
                     int size = Math.max(this.batchSize, AbstractRecords.estimateSizeInBytesUpperBound(maxUsableMagic, compression, key, value, headers));
                     log.trace("Allocating a new {} byte message buffer for topic {} partition {} with remaining timeout {}ms", size, topic, partition, maxTimeToBlock);
+                    // This call may block if we exhausted buffer space.
                     buffer = free.allocate(size, maxTimeToBlock);
+                    // Update the current time in case the buffer allocation blocked above.
+                    // NOTE: getting time may be expensive, so calling it under a lock
+                    // should be avoided.
+                    nowMs = time.milliseconds();
                 }
 
                 synchronized (dq) {
@@ -307,7 +312,7 @@ public RecordAppendResult append(String topic,
                                 partitionInfo.partition(), topic);
                         continue;
                     }
-                    RecordAppendResult appendResult = appendNewBatch(topic, effectivePartition, dq, timestamp, key, value, headers, callbacks, buffer);
+                    RecordAppendResult appendResult = appendNewBatch(topic, effectivePartition, dq, timestamp, key, value, headers, callbacks, buffer, nowMs);
                     // Set buffer to null, so that deallocate doesn't return it back to free pool, since it's used in the batch.
                     if (appendResult.newBatchCreated)
                         buffer = null;
@@ -333,6 +338,7 @@ public RecordAppendResult append(String topic,
      * @param headers the Headers for the record
      * @param callbacks The callbacks to execute
      * @param buffer The buffer for the new batch
+     * @param nowMs The current time, in milliseconds
      */
     private RecordAppendResult appendNewBatch(String topic,
                                               int partition,
@@ -342,11 +348,10 @@ private RecordAppendResult appendNewBatch(String topic,
                                               byte[] value,
                                               Header[] headers,
                                               AppendCallbacks callbacks,
-                                              ByteBuffer buffer) {
+                                              ByteBuffer buffer,
+                                              long nowMs) {
         assert partition != RecordMetadata.UNKNOWN_PARTITION;
 
-        // Update the current time in case the buffer allocation blocked above.
-        long nowMs = time.milliseconds();
         RecordAppendResult appendResult = tryAppend(timestamp, key, value, headers, callbacks, dq, nowMs);
         if (appendResult != null) {
             // Somebody else found us a batch, return the one we waited for! Hopefully this doesn't happen often...