diff --git a/src/common/utils.h b/src/common/utils.h
index 5044f3447f84..1687a0909839 100644
--- a/src/common/utils.h
+++ b/src/common/utils.h
@@ -36,15 +36,29 @@ void CastStorageComputeEx(const nnvm::NodeAttrs& attrs,
 namespace common {
 
 #if DMLC_USE_CXX11
+/*
+ * \brief Get input TBlobs from NDArrays, potentially performing cast_storage op and store
+ *        temporary NDArrays in temps. If storage_fallback is false,
+ *        MXNET_EXEC_STORAGE_FALLBACK env var determines whether storage type fallback is allowed.
+ */
 template <typename xpu>
 inline void GetInputBlobs(const std::vector<NDArray>& nds,
                           std::vector<TBlob> *blobs,
                           std::vector<NDArray> *temps,
-                          const OpContext& ctx) {
+                          const OpContext& ctx,
+                          bool storage_fallback = false) {
+  if (storage_fallback == false) {
+    storage_fallback = dmlc::GetEnv("MXNET_EXEC_STORAGE_FALLBACK", true);
+  }
   for (auto& nd : nds) {
     if (nd.storage_type() != kDefaultStorage) {
+      if (storage_fallback == false) {
+        LOG(FATAL) << "Storage type conversion detected during execution. "
+                   << "You are probably executing an operator which "
+                   << "doesn't support NDArray inputs with non-default storage.";
+      }
       NDArray temp(nd.shape(), nd.ctx(), false);
-      op::CastStorageComputeEx<xpu>({}, ctx, {nd}, {}, {temp});
+      op::CastStorageComputeImpl<xpu>(ctx.get_stream<xpu>(), nd, temp);
       temps->push_back(temp);
       blobs->push_back(temp.data());
     } else {
diff --git a/src/operator/operator_common.h b/src/operator/operator_common.h
index 3e2caf15e19a..e8484346cc16 100755
--- a/src/operator/operator_common.h
+++ b/src/operator/operator_common.h
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ void FCompExFallback(const nnvm::NodeAttrs& attrs,
                      FCompute fcompute) {
   std::vector<TBlob> in_blobs, out_blobs;
   std::vector<NDArray> tmps;
-  common::GetInputBlobs<xpu>(inputs, &in_blobs, &tmps, ctx);
+  common::GetInputBlobs<xpu>(inputs, &in_blobs, &tmps, ctx, true);
   common::GetOutputBlobs<xpu>(outputs, &out_blobs);
   fcompute(attrs, ctx, in_blobs, req, out_blobs);
 }
diff --git a/tests/python/unittest/test_sparse_ndarray.py b/tests/python/unittest/test_sparse_ndarray.py
index 89323fe2dbfd..171b42f95160 100644
--- a/tests/python/unittest/test_sparse_ndarray.py
+++ b/tests/python/unittest/test_sparse_ndarray.py
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@
 from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
 import numpy.random as rnd
 
+def assert_fcompex(f, *args, **kwargs):
+    prev_val = mx.test_utils.set_env_var("MXNET_EXEC_STORAGE_FALLBACK", "0", "1")
+    f(*args, **kwargs)
+    mx.test_utils.set_env_var("MXNET_EXEC_STORAGE_FALLBACK", prev_val)
+
 def check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary(shapes, storage_types, f, g):
     # generate inputs
     nds = []
@@ -27,11 +32,14 @@ def test_sparse_nd_elemwise_add():
     op = mx.nd.elemwise_add
     for i in range(num_repeats):
         shape = [(rnd.randint(1, 10),rnd.randint(1, 10))] * 2
-        check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary(shape, ['default_storage'] * 2, op, g)
-        check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary(shape, ['default_storage', 'row_sparse'], op, g)
-        check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary(shape, ['row_sparse', 'row_sparse'], op, g)
-
-# Test a operator which doesn't implement FComputeEx
+        assert_fcompex(check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary,
+                       shape, ['default_storage'] * 2, op, g)
+        assert_fcompex(check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary,
+                       shape, ['default_storage', 'row_sparse'], op, g)
+        assert_fcompex(check_sparse_nd_elemwise_binary,
+                       shape, ['row_sparse', 'row_sparse'], op, g)
+
+# test a operator which doesn't implement FComputeEx
 def test_sparse_nd_elementwise_fallback():
     num_repeats = 10
     g = lambda x,y: x + y
@@ -141,9 +149,9 @@ def check_sparse_nd_csr_slice(shape):
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test_sparse_nd_zeros()
+    test_sparse_nd_elemwise_add()
     test_sparse_nd_elementwise_fallback()
     test_sparse_nd_copy()
-    test_sparse_nd_elemwise_add()
     test_sparse_nd_setitem()
     test_sparse_nd_basic()
     test_sparse_nd_slice()