To skip entering a key on installation of windows 8.1 do this:
Get Ultraiso or put the win8 installation on an usb stick.
Open notepad and add the following:
[EditionID] Professional [Channel] Retail [VL] 0
Now save it as ei.cfg (check that you didn't save it as a txt)
Copy the ei.cfg to the sources folder on your iso/usb.
Install win 8.1, when asked about product key click skip.
After installation go to Settings - Change PC Settings - activate windows. Enter your upgrade key.
Using an image editor like UltraISO should allow it to store only the data (as if you'd created the ISO by hand rather than imaging from a disk) that a full bit-for-bit image (with dd or something) wouldn't.
Well according to this http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/history.htm it should be possible, I didn't find any checkbox, that says that it would autosplit it. I will try /u/OSPFv3 's option first, thanks a lot anyways ;)
You can use UltraISO (not free though). I also found this WikiHow article on how to do what you're asking.