I realized that the coercion to oct string I was doing was incorrect.

>>> oct(int(str('744'), 8))
'0744'
>>> oct(int(str(744), 8))
'0744'

The second should be '1305'.

I just went ahead and made the coercion very explicit with an if switch.  I
verified that all the unit tests and the previously affected integration test
succeed.

salt/modules/file.py

@@ -2795,12 +2795,20 @@ def makedirs_perms(name,
                 raise
         if tail == os.curdir:  # xxx/newdir/. exists if xxx/newdir exists
             return
+
+    if type(mode) == int:
+        mode = oct(mode)
+    elif type(mode) == str:
+        mode = oct(int(mode, 8))
+    else:
+        mode = None
+
     os.mkdir(name)
     check_perms(name,
                 None,
                 user,
                 group,
-                oct(int(str(mode), 8)) if mode else None)
+                mode)
 
 
 def get_devmm(name):

salt/states/file.py

@@ -1703,6 +1703,13 @@ def recurse(name,
         )
         return ret
 
+    if type(dir_mode) == int:
+        dir_mode = oct(dir_mode)
+    elif type(dir_mode) == str:
+        dir_mode = oct(int(dir_mode, 8))
+    else:
+        dir_mode = None
+
     # Verify the target directory
     if not os.path.isdir(name):
         if os.path.exists(name):
@@ -1711,7 +1718,7 @@ def recurse(name,
                 ret, 'The path {0} exists and is not a directory'.format(name))
         if not __opts__['test']:
             __salt__['file.makedirs_perms'](
-                name, user, group, oct(int(str(dir_mode), 8)) if dir_mode else None)
+                name, user, group, dir_mode)
 
     def add_comment(path, comment):
         comments = ret['comment'].setdefault(path, [])