for a photoperiod, the thing that you have to worry about is length of the dark cycle. That is what causes flower. that is what can cause a re-vege. Long enough uninterrupted darkness is the thing that causes flower. It's a hormonal response and that hormone is only produced in darkness. if it builds up to a concentration high enough, it'll trigger flower growth. That should take away the mystical nature of it... cause and effect.
circadian rhythm is 'something' of a concern, but nothing as serious as a revege. Nothing you can do but fix the schedule and move on. You won't be able to tell the difference in growth rate from normal genetic variance, i'd wager.
If pushing limits of DLI over 18 hours, then 24 hours becomes a concern of giving too much (~36 becomes 48 DLI which is most definitely too much long-term). Again, short-term is not going to derail a grow. Might have a couple nodes that formed at that time abnormally close together compared to others. if vertical growth slowed or stopped, fixing the light schedule will eventually fix that too. If the plant wasn't all droopy dog for extended periods of time, you likely avoided this problem.
there are no ways to circumvent limiting factors. A plant can adapt to high rates of light applied over longer periods of time, but that's just wasting electricty. 35-40 dli is a good spot to start, then adjust based on growth pattern that results... Temp and RH impact 'max' photosynthesis per 24 hours, too. So, one garden is not the same as another in this regard. There will always be 'some' variance of how much light you can provide compared to others. This is not as simple as a binary context, but is still simple.