The invention is a method for producing a tool which can be used to create optically active surface structures in the sub-.mu.m range, having a support surface onto which relief surface structures are applied over the support surface by means of material deposition. The invention is distinguished by the support surface being directly contacted with a mask in which openings with diameters in the sub-.mu.m range are provided or can be provided, by the support surface including the mask being subjected to a coating process in which the coating material deposits through the openings of the mask onto the support surface, and the mask is removed from the support surface when a partial amount of an average end structure height of the surface structures is reached and the coating procedure is then continued without the mask using the same coating material or different coating materials.