The influence of the incident angle on the diffraction efficiency and microstructure height of the diffractive optical element (DOE) was analyzed to further study the influence of the incident angle and period width on the polychromatic integral diffraction efficiency (PIDE). Based on the extended scalar diffraction theory (ESDT), a mathematical model of the relationship among the microstructure height, incident angle, and period width of the DOE was established. An optimal design method for structural parameters, such as the design wavelength and microstructure height, was proposed based on maximizing the comprehensive PIDE (CPIDE) within a certain range of incident angles. A DOE operating within the infrared waveband was considered as an example. The results indicate that when the relative period width is 20 and the incidence angle range is 0° to 40°, the CPIDE of the DOE is 94.15%, and the microstructure height is 1.3396 ?m. This design method can realize the optimal design of a wide-angle DOE.