diff --git a/src/passes/ConstraintAnalysis.cpp b/src/passes/ConstraintAnalysis.cpp
index 89a3584487c..bd2d9a14867 100644
--- a/src/passes/ConstraintAnalysis.cpp
+++ b/src/passes/ConstraintAnalysis.cpp
@@ -612,10 +612,20 @@ struct ConstraintAnalysis
       // Now that we know the value, check binary action counting limits (see
       // above).
       if (auto* binary = value->dynCast<Binary>()) {
-        // The count may exceed the limit sometimes, but add a hard assert on
-        // never going up so high it is likely doing an unbounded computation.
+        // The code below will stop calculating this binary once we pass
+        // MaxBinaryActions operations on it. That is enough to prevent
+        // unbounded work on this binary, however, we may end up reaching this
+        // basic block an even larger number of times for other reasons, i.e.,
+        // just because of a very complex CFG. That should be very rare, but can
+        // happen. In debug builds we check we do not exceed a very high limit
+        // there, intending to throw an assert rather than just hang in the case
+        // of a bug (as assert is easier to diagnose, even if it happens after a
+        // long delay).
         auto& count = binaryActionCounts[binary];
-        assert(count < MaxBinaryActions * 10);
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+        static const Index MaxBasicBlockActions = 1024 * 1024;
+        assert(count < MaxBasicBlockActions);
+#endif
         count++;
         if (count >= MaxBinaryActions) {
           constraints.setProvesNothing(set->index);