Infrared(IR) heating has many advantages, such as energy efficiency, reduced heating time, cleanliness, equipment compactness, high drying rate and easy automation. These features of IR heating provide widely industrial applications, such as surface heat treatment in semiconductor fabrication, thermoforming of polymers, drying and disinfection of food products, heating to metal forging, and drying of wet materials. In this study, the characteristics of a protected gold mirror were examined by spectrophotometer and the lifetime of the coating layers were evaluated by a cross-cutting method and salt spray test. The effects of manufacturing conditions on the protected gold mirror were seen and remedies for these effects were noted in order to improve the properties of the protected gold mirror in the drying process. The reflectance and lifetime of the protected gold mirror was influenced by manufacturing conditions, such as surface roughness and forming conditions of the anti-oxide layer, the adhesion layer, the reflecting layer and the protection layer. The results of this study showed that the protected gold mirror manufactured using a buffing method for pre-treatment resulted in the most effective reflectance. In addition, Al2O3 coating on an Al substrate as an anti-oxide layer was more effective than the anodizing process in the test of reflectance. Furthermore, the protected gold mirror manufactured by layers forming of various materials resulted in the most effective reflectance and lifetime when coated with Al2O3 as the anti-oxide layer, coated Cr as the adhesion layer, and coated MgF2 as the protection layer.