The availability of high-resolution and high-throughput lithographic fabrication technologies, such as electron-beam lithography, based on variable shaped beam writing and character projection opens the way for the flexible use of various optical nano-structures for some of the most demanding applications. We discuss the technical features, advantages, and limitations of these pattering approaches and show how they can favorably be combined to realize optical nano-structures for applications, which are as diverse as gratings for ultra-short laser pulses or high-resolution spectrometers, computer generated holograms for asphere testing, various optical meta-structures (lenses and gratings), or UV-polarizers.