diff --git a/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc b/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc
index 371ef9787c1..7f587a31039 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc
+++ b/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc
@@ -3816,9 +3816,8 @@ retry:
 		DBUG_RETURN(HA_ERR_NO_SUCH_TABLE);
 	}
 
-	prebuilt = row_create_prebuilt(ib_table);
+	prebuilt = row_create_prebuilt(ib_table, table->s->reclength);
 
-	prebuilt->mysql_row_len = table->s->reclength;
 	prebuilt->default_rec = table->s->default_values;
 	ut_ad(prebuilt->default_rec);
 
diff --git a/storage/innobase/handler/handler0alter.cc b/storage/innobase/handler/handler0alter.cc
index 6d5b7b4668f..c6754660b84 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/handler/handler0alter.cc
+++ b/storage/innobase/handler/handler0alter.cc
@@ -1008,7 +1008,12 @@ ha_innobase::final_add_index(
 			row_prebuilt_free(prebuilt, TRUE);
 			error = row_merge_drop_table(trx, old_table);
 			add->indexed_table->n_mysql_handles_opened++;
-			prebuilt = row_create_prebuilt(add->indexed_table);
+			prebuilt = row_create_prebuilt(add->indexed_table,
+				0 /* XXX Do we know the mysql_row_len here?
+				Before the addition of this parameter to
+				row_create_prebuilt() the mysql_row_len
+				member was left 0 (from zalloc) in the
+				prebuilt object. */);
 		}
 
 		err = convert_error_code_to_mysql(
diff --git a/storage/innobase/include/data0data.h b/storage/innobase/include/data0data.h
index f7bdd29ed90..9435169a0fd 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/include/data0data.h
+++ b/storage/innobase/include/data0data.h
@@ -231,6 +231,12 @@ dtuple_set_n_fields_cmp(
 	dtuple_t*	tuple,		/*!< in: tuple */
 	ulint		n_fields_cmp);	/*!< in: number of fields used in
 					comparisons in rem0cmp.* */
+
+/* Estimate the number of bytes that are going to be allocated when
+creating a new dtuple_t object */
+#define DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(n_fields)	\
+	(sizeof(dtuple_t) + (n_fields) * sizeof(dfield_t))
+
 /**********************************************************//**
 Creates a data tuple to a memory heap. The default value for number
 of fields used in record comparisons for this tuple is n_fields.
@@ -240,7 +246,8 @@ dtuple_t*
 dtuple_create(
 /*==========*/
 	mem_heap_t*	heap,	/*!< in: memory heap where the tuple
-				is created */
+				is created, DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(n_fields)
+				bytes will be allocated from this heap */
 	ulint		n_fields); /*!< in: number of fields */
 
 /**********************************************************//**
diff --git a/storage/innobase/include/data0data.ic b/storage/innobase/include/data0data.ic
index 5c0f8039c80..971f58412c0 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/include/data0data.ic
+++ b/storage/innobase/include/data0data.ic
@@ -356,15 +356,15 @@ dtuple_t*
 dtuple_create(
 /*==========*/
 	mem_heap_t*	heap,	/*!< in: memory heap where the tuple
-				is created */
+				is created, DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(n_fields)
+				bytes will be allocated from this heap */
 	ulint		n_fields) /*!< in: number of fields */
 {
 	dtuple_t*	tuple;
 
 	ut_ad(heap);
 
-	tuple = (dtuple_t*) mem_heap_alloc(heap, sizeof(dtuple_t)
-					   + n_fields * sizeof(dfield_t));
+	tuple = (dtuple_t*) mem_heap_alloc(heap, DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(n_fields));
 	tuple->info_bits = 0;
 	tuple->n_fields = n_fields;
 	tuple->n_fields_cmp = n_fields;
diff --git a/storage/innobase/include/row0mysql.h b/storage/innobase/include/row0mysql.h
index dd619406ab9..27fc1b95808 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/include/row0mysql.h
+++ b/storage/innobase/include/row0mysql.h
@@ -168,7 +168,9 @@ UNIV_INTERN
 row_prebuilt_t*
 row_create_prebuilt(
 /*================*/
-	dict_table_t*	table);	/*!< in: Innobase table handle */
+	dict_table_t*	table,		/*!< in: Innobase table handle */
+	ulint		mysql_row_len);	/*!< in: length in bytes of a row in
+					the MySQL format */
 /********************************************************************//**
 Free a prebuilt struct for a MySQL table handle. */
 UNIV_INTERN
diff --git a/storage/innobase/row/row0mysql.c b/storage/innobase/row/row0mysql.c
index 987d6595224..9289a2930d4 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/row/row0mysql.c
+++ b/storage/innobase/row/row0mysql.c
@@ -667,17 +667,60 @@ UNIV_INTERN
 row_prebuilt_t*
 row_create_prebuilt(
 /*================*/
-	dict_table_t*	table)	/*!< in: Innobase table handle */
+	dict_table_t*	table,		/*!< in: Innobase table handle */
+	ulint		mysql_row_len)	/*!< in: length in bytes of a row in
+					the MySQL format */
 {
 	row_prebuilt_t*	prebuilt;
 	mem_heap_t*	heap;
 	dict_index_t*	clust_index;
 	dtuple_t*	ref;
 	ulint		ref_len;
+	ulint		search_tuple_n_fields;
 
-	heap = mem_heap_create(sizeof *prebuilt + 128);
+	search_tuple_n_fields = 2 * dict_table_get_n_cols(table);
 
-	prebuilt = mem_heap_zalloc(heap, sizeof *prebuilt);
+	clust_index = dict_table_get_first_index(table);
+
+	/* Make sure that search_tuple is long enough for clustered index */
+	ut_a(2 * dict_table_get_n_cols(table) >= clust_index->n_fields);
+
+	ref_len = dict_index_get_n_unique(clust_index);
+
+#define PREBUILT_HEAP_INITIAL_SIZE	\
+	( \
+	sizeof(*prebuilt) \
+	/* allocd in this function */ \
+	+ DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(search_tuple_n_fields) \
+	+ DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(ref_len) \
+	/* allocd in row_prebuild_sel_graph() */ \
+	+ sizeof(sel_node_t) \
+	+ sizeof(que_fork_t) \
+	+ sizeof(que_thr_t) \
+	/* allocd in row_get_prebuilt_update_vector() */ \
+	+ sizeof(upd_node_t) \
+	+ sizeof(upd_t) \
+	+ sizeof(upd_field_t) \
+	  * dict_table_get_n_cols(table) \
+	+ sizeof(que_fork_t) \
+	+ sizeof(que_thr_t) \
+	/* allocd in row_get_prebuilt_insert_row() */ \
+	+ sizeof(ins_node_t) \
+	/* mysql_row_len could be huge and we are not \
+	sure if this prebuilt instance is going to be \
+	used in inserts */ \
+	+ (mysql_row_len < 256 ? mysql_row_len : 0) \
+	+ DTUPLE_EST_ALLOC(dict_table_get_n_cols(table)) \
+	+ sizeof(que_fork_t) \
+	+ sizeof(que_thr_t) \
+	)
+
+	/* We allocate enough space for the objects that are likely to
+	be created later in order to minimize the number of malloc()
+	calls */
+	heap = mem_heap_create(PREBUILT_HEAP_INITIAL_SIZE);
+
+	prebuilt = mem_heap_zalloc(heap, sizeof(*prebuilt));
 
 	prebuilt->magic_n = ROW_PREBUILT_ALLOCATED;
 	prebuilt->magic_n2 = ROW_PREBUILT_ALLOCATED;
@@ -695,15 +738,7 @@ row_create_prebuilt(
 	UNIV_MEM_INVALID(&prebuilt->stored_select_lock_type,
 			 sizeof prebuilt->stored_select_lock_type);
 
-	prebuilt->search_tuple = dtuple_create(
-		heap, 2 * dict_table_get_n_cols(table));
-
-	clust_index = dict_table_get_first_index(table);
-
-	/* Make sure that search_tuple is long enough for clustered index */
-	ut_a(2 * dict_table_get_n_cols(table) >= clust_index->n_fields);
-
-	ref_len = dict_index_get_n_unique(clust_index);
+	prebuilt->search_tuple = dtuple_create(heap, search_tuple_n_fields);
 
 	ref = dtuple_create(heap, ref_len);
 
@@ -720,6 +755,8 @@ row_create_prebuilt(
 
 	prebuilt->autoinc_last_value = 0;
 
+	prebuilt->mysql_row_len = mysql_row_len;
+
 	return(prebuilt);
 }