Historians Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam characterise him as an important figure of Mughal history spanning the later years of emperor Aurangzeb, to the early rule of Farrukhsiyar.

Later in life, he was appointed governor of Gujarat under emperor Farrukhsiyar, serving briefly before his death in a battle against Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan.

Khizr Khan was assassinated in 1676/1677 due to court intrigues that sprung in the aftermath of Ali Adil Shah II's death.

When Zulfiqar Khan won this battle in 1698 and conquered Jinji Fort, he was recalled to the emperor's camp in northern India.

[8] Between 1701-1704, Daud Khan led several successful campaigns against local paligars and rajas in the Carnatic, such as the Tanjore Maratha king, in order to impose Mughal authority and extract tribute.

[9] On several occasions, he threatened the East India Company settlement of Madras, even besieging it in 1702 and extracting significant tribute.

[13] In 1704, emperor Aurangzeb additionally assigned him to the deputy governorship of Hyderabad Subah (under the absentee governor prince Kam Bakhsh), replacing Rustam Dil Khan, in order to combat rising Maratha insurgency in the region.

Daud Khan was not happy with this assignment due to existing pressures from administering the Carnatic, and occupied the office for only a year before being called to serve the emperor in the Siege of Wagingera.

[14][15] The death of Aurangzeb in 1707 spawned a succession struggle, causing Daud Khan to leave the Carnatic for northern India.

That year, Bahadur Shah marched on his brother Kam Bakhsh, who claimed independent rule in the Deccan.

Daud Khan and his subordinates brought the battle to a close when they captured the wounded Kam Bakhsh, by encircling him and his elephant.

[20][21] During this time, the Mughal Deccan faced significant raids from Maratha armies, which Daud Khan combated to limited success.

Daud Khan sent troops to subdue it, and though the perpetrators were successfully imprisoned, they were later released by oppositional factions of the imperial court.

The traveller Manucci recorded stories of Daud Khan immediately killing newborns that his wives/concubines birthed, though some scholars have dismissed this as rumor.

When his political activities shifted away from the region, this left a leading subordinate, the diwan Saadatullah Khan, to assert greater control.