Absolutely it does. In your example more biomes and naturally generating blocks have been added (for example red sand) in 1.8 that were not in 1.7.2. Another example is extreme coordinates in minecraft alpha and beta versions led to the Far Lands, whereas now the world generation has been changed so you can walk infinitely.

Absolutely it does. In your example more biomes and naturally generating blocks have been added (for example red sand) in 1.8 that were not in 1.7.2. Another example is extreme coordinates in minecraft alpha and beta versions led to the Far Lands, whereas now the world generation has been changed so you can walk for 6000000 blocks until you hit the world border.