Bug 21826 taught the linker that it should only consider certain subfields while looking for a match and while creating authority records, but authority lookup from the plugin link in the basic editor or from ctrl+shift+L in the advanced editor still considers them. Given "700 1_ $aBurns, Ken,$d1953-$etelevision director,$etelevision producer." the linker will search for an authority without the director/producer bits and if it doesn't find a match will create an authority without them, but ctrl+shift+L will fill the Search main heading search field with "1953- television director, television producer."
Phil, can you tell if this is still valid?
Still valid, nothing has changed.