An integral-direct implementation of first-order one-electron properties in the coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) model is presented. The implementation increases the range of applicability of CCSD first-order one-electron property calculations significantly compared to nondirect approaches. As an application a thorough basis set investigation is performed on five diatomic molecules at the Hartree-Fock and CCSD levels for the molecular electric dipole moment, the molecular electric quadrupole moment, and the electric field gradient at the nuclei. In general, basis sets of polarized triple-zeta quality are the smallest to be recommended, and the convergence towards the basis set limit is faster at the Hartree-Fock level than at the CCSD level. Among the properties considered, the electric dipole moment is the easiest to converge. The electric dipole and especially the electric quadrupole moment require diffuse functions for high accuracy. With standard basis sets, it is not possible to calculate electric field gradients consistently within three thousandths of an atomic unit of the basis set limit-for this purpose, elaborate nonstandard basis sets are required. The electric field gradients at the nuclei in HCN and the electric dipole moment of the furan molecule are calculated at the CCSD level employing up to 417 basis functions, further demonstrating the large-scale applicability of the implementation.